FAMILY LAW ARTICLES

Timing concerns in marriage and divorce

Among the big decisions that arise for couples that desire to one day tie the knot is how long to wait to get married. How much time couples spend dating before marrying can impact many things. Research suggests this could include how likely a couple is to face divorce later on down the road.

The research was from Emory University. I looked into issues related to marriage and divorce through a survey of over 3,000 individuals who were currently or previously married. Among the things researchers looked into when it comes to the survey data is how divorce likelihood varied among couples based on how long they dated prior to tying the knot. Among the research’s finding were that:

• Couples who were together one to two years prior to marrying showed a 20 percent lower divorce likelihood.
• Couples who waited at least three years after starting dating to get married showed a 50 percent lower chance of divorce.

So, it appears waiting a while to get married could have its benefits. Of course, a lot of different individual circumstances go into what time to get married would be right for a given couple. What do you think are some of the most important things to think about when deciding how long to wait to get married?

Another relationship decision in which timing concerns can come up is the decision to divorce. When a married couple decides that their relationship has reached the point where their marriage can’t continue, a lot of different factors could go into the decision of when to formally start divorce proceedings. This can include emotional, financial and legal factors. There can also be significant timing factors to carefully consider once the divorce process starts, such as the deadlines related to the various proceedings in the divorce. Such timing concerns are among the wide range of divorce concerns individuals can seek out guidance on from skilled divorce attorneys.

Source: Business Insider, “Researchers found the ‘right’ amount of time to date before getting married — and it’s not as long as you’d think,” Kristin Salaky, Oct. 27, 2017