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The number of divorces granted in England and Wales in 2013 totalled 115,546 according to data that Quickie Divorce has obtained from the Ministry of Justice. This represents a decline of 2.19 per cent compared to 2012. Of the total number of divorces granted during this period, 112,853 were granted to couples who did not contest the process compared to 2,328 where the matter was contested. A total of 365 of the marriages that came to an end during this period were annulled. The divorce rate had previously grown by 0.5 per cent in 2012 when 118,140 divorces were granted compared to 117,558 in 2011. The 115,546 divorces granted last year is the fewest since the height of the recession in 2009 when a total of 113,949 marriages came to an end in England and Wales. It is possible that this decline could be attributed to falling marriage rates or, quite possibly, the abolition of legal aid for divorcing couples – save for where domestic violence was present – which came into effect one year ago in April 2013. The number of people applying for a divorce in England and Wales also fell last year with figures from the Ministry of Justice also revealing that a total of 117,489 applications for a divorce were filed in 2013 compared to 124,450 in 2012 – a reduction of 5.5 per cent. A total of 25,090 people contacted Quickie Divorce for advice last year – the equivalent of 21.7 per cent of all couples that were granted a divorce in England and Wales over the same period. The figures obtained from the MOJ (which can be found within their latest report on court statistics) are yet to be analysed and re-compiled by the Office for National Statistics. As the ONS have, on average, deducted approximately 2,300 divorces from the figures provided by the MOJ over the last three years, it is possible that the divorce rate fell even further in 2013.