As the holiday season comes to an end, some married couples in Minnesota are deciding to part ways. Though divorce may be something that people think about for a long time, often January is the month that they choose to file the paperwork. The first month of the year has gotten such a reputation for an increase in divorce filings that the month has been nicknamed ‘divorce month” by some lawyers.
Often, what people search for on the Internet is what’s heaviest on their mind, and Google Trends shows that ‘divorce” searches reach their peak around the second week of January. Searches on Pinterest show a similar trend, with the term ‘divorce party” rising by around 21 percent from December to January. Researchers looking at divorce filings from 2001-2015 found that there was a consistent increase in filings from December to January.
The holiday season can be stressful for some couples, and some people who are looking into the January divorce trend say that the holidays place more stress on already troubled marriages. Other people say that married couples with children might be trying to delay divorce filings until after the holidays so that they do not upset the children more than necessary.
A person who has decided to file for divorce in January may want to have representation from a divorce attorney. An attorney may be able to help a divorcing spouse to negotiate for a settlement that is in their best interest. If there are disagreements over the ownership of certain property, an attorney may help a divorcing spouse to argue their case.