MARRIAGE FAILURES.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17131, 18 June 1927, Page 15 (Supplement)

MARRIAGE FAILURES.

RARITY OF LATE DIVORCES. Although official statistics reveal that the majority of petitions for divorce occur after the tentn year of marriage, and of that majority most occur between the eleventh and twelfth years, counsel and solicitors engaged in the London Divorce Court declare that the danger year of marriage is not in that year. Since the war fully 50 per cent, of the marriages which have been dissolved have been of at least ten years’ duration, but records establish that the reason for the petition generally arose between two and three years before the court procedings took place. It is thus apparent that the critical point in marriages which are the subject of public review is about the seventh or eighth year.

Sir George Lewis, the London solicitor, was asked by a reporter to give his opinion. He said — “My experience shows that in the large majority of coses the divirccs take place after some years of marriage have elapsed, but long before the tenth year. It is the exception for divorces to be sought in later years. One of the great deterrents of divorce and the break-up of the/ home is the presence of children. “Among people of limited means a deterrent must always exist in the’fact that the fixed income to which they have become accustomed, while it is amply sufficient for the joint establishment., is quite insufficient when divided between two establishments. “The number of divorces is undoubtedly still affected by war-time

marriages, in which Hie parties have been living together'only since the demobilisation period, and by the new Divorce Act, which has enlarged the rights of the wife. “There arc, however, still many cases in which, under the recommendations of the Divorce Commission, further righls of divorce ought to la given to remedy certain cases of greal hardship which may arise early or late in married life. “On the whole, I think if is evident that where people have lived together for a number of years [hey are wisi enough lo avoid divorce. It is in tlx early years of marriage, when happiness together is clearly impossible that people mostly seek to form olhei and more promising ties.” In recent years I lie average age of men petitioners for divorce has been about 36 and of women petitioners about 40.

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