Is Divorce Becoming a Luxury?

Marshall — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:24:15 -0400

Is it possible that times are so bad, and divorce is so expensive, couples are staying together? It seems that divorces have moved into the luxury category, along with gas-guzzling cars, soy lattes at Starbucks, and big homes. Fine for those who can afford it.

That's what an article in the Newark Star-Ledger says, with statistics to prove it.

The number of couples signing on with mediators has fallen 21 percent in one year, according to Keila M. Gilbert, president of the Alpha Resource Center, a nonprofit divorce mediation network based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Part of the reason, she thinks, is housing prices. If the home is a couple's only real asset, and it can't be sold, or it would be sold at a loss, that makes it very difficult to resolve a divorce.

Moreover, with some husbands and wives losing their jobs, or not being able to find work at their previous level, it becomes clear that it's a bad time to split up: all expenses will be higher for two separate households, starting with health insurance and ending with cable TV.

For couples who are barely making it now, divorce becomes a near impossibility.

A divorce mediator in Metuchin, New Jersey, Michael Grodjeski, said: "They end up getting stuck living together. It's not easy, but don't forget, couples who come to mediation tend to be more amicable about their divorce. They can continue to live together, not happily maybe, but they are trying to make the best of things."

Of course, for some women, divorce isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. It may mean renting their home out and keeping it in both names until the market improves, or it may mean biting the bullet and making a break. Even reduced circumstances are better than living in an unhappy home.

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Is Divorce Becoming a Luxury?