Our Blogs

When filing for a divorce in England or Wales, it is necessary for the Petitioner (the individual applying for the divorce) to inform the courts of why their marriage has irretrievably broken down. Whilst it would therefore be logical to conclude that the Ministry of Justice would be in possession of all of the information required to prepare a comprehensive list of the most common causes of divorce, this is not the case. When completing a divorce petition, only one of four reasons can be cited as the reason for the marriage having irretrievably broken down - and only two of these reasons require the Petitioner to provide a substantive reason or reasons as to why they and their spouse separated. As a result, the divorce Petitions that are used in England and Wales do not provide the level of information that would be required to compile a detailed list of the most common reasons marriages end in divorce. Recently, though, researchers at Pennsylvania State University have analysed the responses to a survey that involved 200 divorced adults and have used the information they gleaned to determine the ten most common causes of divorce. Unsurprisingly, the most common reason was infidelity which was cited by 18.4 per cent of participants. It should be noted here that infidelity differs from adultery (one of the four reasons for marital breakdown that can be cited in a Divorce Petition in England and Wales) in that it does not necessarily involve one spouse having penetrative sex with someone other than their spouse, but it is still clear that, when a spouse engages in physical or romantic activity with someone other than their husband or wife, it is more than capable of causing marital breakdown. The second most common reason for divorce was incompatibility which was cited by 16.4 per cent of respondents, followed by alcohol or drug abuse which was quoted by nine per cent of participants. Additionally, eight per cent of people believed that they and their spouse had simply grown apart whilst 7.8 per cent stated that it was their spouse’s personality and/or behaviour that had brought about their divorce. A lack of communication was behind 7.4 per cent of divorces, followed by mental or physical abuse at 4.9 per cent. Rounding out the top ten were falling out of love with 3.9 per cent, failing to meet family obligations with 3.4 per cent and work-related issues at 2.9 per cent.