Divorce Trends: The Centre for Mediation and Dispute Resolution Looks Back at 2014s Divorcing Clients

January 1, 2015
Written by Lynne C. Halem

For over thirty-three years, CMDR has helped couples to reach agreement while preserving the historical connections that enable them to build future relationships.

Each year we look back at our client population, seeking to discern changes, patterns, and even trends. In considering our separating, divorcing, and post-divorce clients at the end of year 2014, we have observed the following trends.

• An increased number of clients who experience difficulty in securing employment after being at home caring for children
• An increased number of clients who, for different reasons, decide to structure a long-term separation agreement rather than a divorce agreement
• An increased number of clients, unsure of whether or not to divorce, enter into a post-nuptial agreement, structuring terms that would govern a future decision to divorce
• An increased number of clients with special needs’ children, who include in their agreements provisions for the present and future well-being of their children
• An increased number of clients who continue to maintain their business relationships, including co-owning businesses, after divorce
• An increased number of clients who agree to co-sign mortgages for the purchase of real estate in order to ensure that the residential parent is able to provide preferable housing for the children
• An increased number of clients who elect to reconcile after they have started divorce mediation
• An increased number of clients who, by their agreement and election, extend alimony payments beyond the time frame established by the 2011 change in alimony stipulations as determined by in the Reforming Alimony in the Commonwealth Act (effective March 1, 2012)
• An increased number of clients who structure support agreements that include departures from the Child Support Guidelines of 2013 and /or the 2011 Alimony Act
• An increased number of agreements that include side agreements, which for privacy purposes, include additional agreements and terms that might be harmful  and/or embarrassing to the involved individuals if entered into the public record
• An increased number of clients who elect mediation after involvement in protracted, even hostile, legal battles
• An increased number of clients who take no-penalty withdrawals from retirement funds to purchase real estate and/or pay down debt
• An increased number of post-divorce clients seeking to modify their agreements in mediation
• An increased number of clients divorcing after or at retirement
• An increased number of marital dissolutions among same sex couples

Evolving cultural norms and patterns seen in the separating and divorcing population are merely a microcosm of the population as a whole.  Living arrangements that were once unacceptable, even unimaginable, have now become part of the new “normal.”  Societal changes foster changes in the law, providing a new, more expansive view of the options and opportunities facing families, indeed of the very definition of family.

Mediation presents an open, neutral environment in which couples can explore how they wish to structure their future.

The problem-solving nature of the process enables couples to resolve their differences, learn to engage in productive deliberations, and ultimately, create new relationships. With these life-long tools, participants are better equipped to deal constructively with life’s inevitable changes.

Please Call Our Office For Answers To Your Questions – 781.239.1600