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In 2003, accountancy firm Grant Thornton began an annual survey designed to gather information relating to divorce in the UK. Following this study’s inception, adultery was revealed, year after year, to be the main cause of divorce in the UK… until now.

Instead, the survey has revealed that the majority of couples are now filing for a divorce as a result of them having fallen out of love with one another, with 27% of divorcing couples having relied upon these grounds compared to 25% who filed on the grounds of marital infidelity.

The number of divorcees filing on the grounds of adultery is also at its lowest since the survey began, but where do these changes come from? I very much doubt that people are having fewer affairs. I have already noted in a previous post that research has shown that 22% of men and 14% of women will engage in an extramarital affair at some point during their lives. I also noted that there are now a plethora of online communities designed to help spouses seeking affairs to find their ‘partner in crime’. No, combine these facts with growing liberal attitudes and it’s highly unlikely that fewer people are having affairs (though they may be better at hiding them,) the most likely reason for this change lies in the declining value of property.

Following a spouse having discovered the other’s adultery, they then have six months to separate from their spouse. If the couple do not separate within this period then the courts assume that the couple have reconciled and will refuse to grant a divorce on these grounds. Most couples can actually be separated whilst living in the same property and can still file for a divorce whilst doing so. At least one spouse will, however, need to have vacated the matrimonial home before the divorce is finalised (which takes between three and five months if the divorce is uncontested) and with more and more people finding it harder to make ends meet financially as a result of the stagnant economy, would be divorcees will either need to sell the matrimonial home, or one spouse re-mortgage the property and buy the other out, in order to obtain the capital required to buy, or even rent, new properties. Due to falling house prices, however, the couple are unlikely to receive an offer that they find acceptable or, worse yet, find that they are unable to sell the property at all thus preventing them from moving on.

In the alternative scenario, with banks far more reluctant to lend money in the current climate, one spouse is also unlikely to be granted a re-mortgage on the back of their income alone, again forcing the couple to remain in the marital home. As a result, the couple conclude that it is not possible that at least one of them will be able to move out within the relevant timeframe, choose to spend time saving and delay their divorce. The couple in question then file for a divorce on the grounds of two-year separation at a later date. Well, that’s my theory, anyway.

In all honesty, it really isn’t possible to compile a definite reason for these changes and I doubt we’ll ever know why fewer coupled divorced on the grounds of adultery last year. We’d very much like to hear your opinions as to why these changes have come about though. Please leave a comment below, it’d be great to hear from you.