Why Are There So Many Divorces In Alabama?

When you first get divorced, you might feel like you are the only person it ever happened to. All your former classmates that you are still friends with on Facebook seem to be committed to their marriages for the long haul, even if not everything in their lives is as rosy as it looks on social media. A few years from now, you will probably feel like everyone you know is divorced. It could be because like attracts like; when you meet other divorced people, you will probably connect with them because of your shared experience. It might also be because there are a lot more divorced people in Alabama than in almost any other state, relative to the total population. According to a recent article on the Mental Floss website, 88 women out of 1,000 in Alabama are divorced. The only state with a higher divorce rate is Oklahoma, where 97 out of 1,000 women have had at least one marriage end in divorce. The survey only counted women, one half of the couple, because it is awkward to count couples for any marital status other than married. Talking to friends and coworkers who have been through divorce can help you find a new normal after you and your spouse separate, but to get a fair share of the marital property and prevent post-divorce litigation, contact a Birmingham divorce lawyer.

Alabama Has the Nation’s Second Highest Divorce Rate

In 2023, 50 percent of adults in the United States were married; this is the lowest share since researchers began collecting this data. The reason for the large number of unmarried adults is not a sky-high divorce rate; divorce rates across the country have steadily been falling, after they peaked shortly after the introduction of laws allowing for no-fault divorce. Rather, fewer people are getting married, and the average age at first marriage has been increasing.

Alabama, like Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, and several other states in the top ten, may have high divorce rates because they have relatively high rates of marriage, especially among people under 30. These states have a greater than average share of their population living in rural areas, where people tend to value close family ties. Alabamians are also more likely than Americans in some other states to be religiously observant; therefore, their motivation to marry might have been their decision not to live with a partner they were not married to and to marry before having children.

From a family lawyer’s perspective, divorce matters because, if your marriage ends in divorce, you are entitled to a share of the marital property. Unmarried couples who have children together do not have similar property rights; they do, however, have the right to a court-ordered parenting plan.

Contact Peeples Law About Putting Your Divorce in Perspective

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you reach a fair agreement regarding property division and parenting time.  Contact Peeples Law in Birmingham, Alabama today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

mentalfloss.com/geography/states/us-states-with-the-highest-divorce-rates