10 Most Common Reasons for Divorce

Facing the prospect of a divorce can leave a person feeling isolated and alone. The reality is that an individual headed towards divorce court has a considerable amount in common with many other people. This includes the reasons for ending a marriage. While each divorce is unique in some ways, there are 10 commonplace reasons why people in the United States seek to end their marriages:

• Lack of compatibility
• Irreconcilable differences
• Money
• Lack of communication
• Constant conflict
• Infidelity
• Lack of intimacy
• Getting married too young
• Abuse
• Addiction

When a couple is headed towards divorce, the spouses may have reached a juncture in their relationship at which they have significant and growing differences. These differences may appear in many ways. These disparities may exhibit in everything from personal interests to parenting ideas to politics, to just about anything imaginable. The lack of compatibility may result in a stagnate or even an acrimonious relationship.

The concept of irreconcilable differences is the legal foundation upon which a divorce is legally based in many states in the United States. The term irreconcilable differences is also useful when considering common reasons why spouses divorce. Irreconcilable differences are similar to lack of compatibility. On some level, irreconcilable differences might be considered incompatibility that has reached a point that a spouse or spouses look beyond the marriage for companionship or even intimacy.

Disagreement over money and finances is one of the most common reason why married people can end up in conflict or dissatisfied with the state of their lives. Money issues can include everything from arguments arising from a perceived lack of sufficient money to vastly different ideas about how money should be used.

Marriage counselors routinely cite a lack of communication as being a primary underlying cause of divorce in the United States. Indeed, poor communication is noted as the reason for divorce so often that it might seem like something of a cliché. The reality is that we hear that lack of solid communication results in divorce so often because it truly is a common underlying cause of the demise of a marriage.

Persistent conflict represents another of the 10 most commonplace reasons people seek to end their marriages. Conflict comes in many forms and for a multitude of reasons. Some of the more frequently occurring reasons for constant content that drive a couple to divorce court include:

• Issues surrounding raising children
• Financial issues and spending
• Work commitments and obligations
• Issues surrounding sex and intimacy
• Matters arising from relatives
• Expectations between spouses

Infidelity or cheating is a common cause of divorce. The infidelity rate is quite high in the United States. Precisely pinpointing the rate of infidelity in the U.S.A. is impossible. By its very nature, infidelity is a clandestine endeavor. With that noted, experts believe that the infidelity rate is between 13 and 20 percent in the United States.

Time and again, spouses who make the decision to end their marriages indicate that a lack of intimacy is the primary reason why they want to divorce. Lack of intimacy sometimes is a problem from the beginning of their lives together. More often, a lack of intimacy leading to divorce is an issue that develops over time.

There is something to be said about at least some potential negative consequences about getting married to young. Statistical analysis of the reasons why people divorce leads to the determination that divorcing spouses cite getting married too young as a reason why they seek to end their marriages.

Domestic abuse is a relatively common reason why people pursue a divorce. More often than not, women are the spouses that seek a divorce because of domestic abuse. Abuse that leads to divorce comes in different forms including:

• Physical abuse
• Mental or psychological abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Financial abuse

Substance use disorder in the form of drug abuse or addiction is yet another common underlying cause for divorce. Drug abuse and addiction wreaks havoc on relationships of all types, the marital relationship typically being the hardest hit by the machinations of a person laboring under substance use disorder.

If you fear your marriage is heading to an end, proactive consulting with a divorce lawyer is a wise course. If you have a question concerning divorce, contact the Law Offices of Peter Van Aulen at (201) 845-7400.