The fall divorce spike explained

Over the course of a year, you can identify certain times when divorce cases spike. For example, one of these times is at the beginning of every year, in January. This is largely due to the fact that couples don’t like to get divorced in December or November because of the holidays, so they procrastinate for two months and get divorced in January.

But there’s another divorce spike in the fall, right around when school starts for children. Why does this happen?

Parents are still avoiding the holidays

As noted above, parents usually like to avoid the holidays for divorce cases. August allows them to do this because they can at least get the process started a few months before the holidays set in.

Summer vacation is over

Additionally, summer vacation, when children don’t have to go to school, can be a complicated time to get divorced. It can also make child custody very complex because the parents may both have to work. As a result, it sometimes makes more sense to get divorced when the children are at school.

They realize they need a fresh start

There are also some cases in which parents will believe that the stress of the school year may have caused problems in their relationship. They think that they just need a break over the summer to refocus. In the fall, however, they find that that summer break wasn’t enough and what they really need is a fresh start.

Filing for divorce

If you’ve decided to get divorced this fall, take the time to carefully consider the steps you need to take to file and how to protect your own rights.