New Data Shows March is the New Divorce Month

In years past, divorce attorneys have referred to January as “Divorce month” since couples have traditionally sought out dissolution once the holidays wound down, but new data shows that March is the true “Divorce month."

FindLaw.com, the internet’s portal to legal advice, which has over 5 million visitors a month, found that divorce-related searches increased 50 percent in March. People searched for phrases such as “divorce,” “family law,” and “child custody.” Searches related to divorce have been the number one search topic on FindLaw.com since February of 2010.

FindLaw.com, in conjunction with Westlaw, a legal research database, also analyzed divorce filings data between 2008 and 2011. They found that there is an uptick in divorce filings in January and reaches a peak in March.

One of the primary reasons that people seek out divorce lawyers in the first moths of the year is the holidays. Couples may want to spend one last holiday together as a family and put up a front for their relatives during the season. Couples, also, often wait until after they file income taxes to file divorce papers.

Depression is a big issue over the holidays and this sometimes drive people to commit adultery. A study on holiday depression showed that of the people who cheat on their spouses 56 percent of men and 42 percent of women have affairs during the holiday season.  This contributes to the rise of divorce filings early in the year.

Divorce is not an easy process emotionally or pragmatically. Once a person makes up their mind and is certain they want to leave their marriages they are advised to retain a divorce lawyer to guide them through the process.