Millennials have been accused of messing up everything else – why not bless them with good news, like reducing the number of divorces?
The statistics may seem to indicate that. There are fewer divorces being filed by people between the ages of 20-40 than by previous generations at that age. Good for them. Does that mean they won’t need an attorney?
Not necessarily.
As KTRH has reported many times in the past, the marriage rate is down while the population increases. Younger people today are delaying the years before they get married, attaining advanced education and often building up a nest egg before walking down the aisle. And often not getting married at all. Millennials cohabitate more than any previous generation, sometimes with children, and those relationships destined to fail do so without a need for a legal separation or divorce.
But they still have to work out what to do with the kids, and that often means hiring an attorney. And that’s where their numbers show up in the same numbers as divorce cases did in the past, according to Bryan Abercrombie, a Houston divorce attorney with Cordell and Cordell. “I think, over all, we’ve seen a decline in the divorces for younger folks, but I think there are still the same number of child-custody type cases,” he tells KTRH News. Houston attorney Judith Sadler of Holmes, Diggs and Sadler concurs. “They have the same issues that a married couple would have, with regard to possessions and access of the children, and who is going to pay child support. All of those issues are the same regardless of whether the couple is married.”
So the numbers may not imply that Millennials’ relationships are more enduring. Surprisingly is that among people 55 to 64 the divorce rate has doubled in the past decade, and tripled for those 65 and older. Baby boomers, who sent divorce rates skyrocketing, are still at it.