Divorce Statistics

In 1997, there were a total of 1,163,000 divorces granted in the United States. That's 4.3 per one thousand of the population. There are currently 19,400,000 divorced adults (1998). The median age at divorce is 35.6 for Males and 33.2 for females. The median duration of a marriage is 7.2 years. There are an estimated 1,075,000 children involved in divorce or 16.8 children per one thousand under the age of eighteen who are involved in their parents' divorce.

80% of divorced men and 75% of women remarry whether or not they have children, and most do so within three years.

Five years later (after divorce) after most men and women have remarried, women's household incomes increased slightly more above pre-divorce levels than those of their ex-husbands.

2/3 to 3/4 of divorces are initiated by women.

According to Dr. Peter Orli in Seven Myths of Divorce, women are generally more satisfied with their divorce settlements than men, and this satisfaction is stable over time.

Recent statistics suggest that 50% of all marriages will end in divorce. In Southern California the divorce rate is purported to be even higher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-75%.

EXPENSE

Mediation is much less expensive than litigation. An average divorce can easily cost as much as $30,000. A mediation can cost as little as $3000 including completion of all the legal paperwork.

From Keeping the Humanity in Divorce by Deborah Vaupen.

Over 160,000 divorces are filed in California…60% are now done without lawyers according to Ed Sherman in How to do Your Own Divorce In California published by Nolo Press. Californians are saving over a half a billion dollars every year in unnecessary legal fees.

Fighting for custody in a Court can cost a lot - at least $15,000-$50,000 for each side.