Would You Walk Away From Your Marriage With Nothing?

We surveyed 2,000 Brits to get the low-down on divorce and its effects.

• 50% of British men divorce and walk away with nothing.
• 43% of men say their finances have suffered due to divorce.
• Women are more likely to benefit financially than men.
• Almost a quarter of Brits have prevented a partner from seeing their child after divorce.
• 28% of men regret divorcing their partner, compared to only 13% of women.

Women vs men

The research found 43% of men say they were worse off financially, compared to a third of women who admitted benefitting financially from their divorce.

Despite this, men are twice as likely as women to leave a house to their partner and walk away with absolutely nothing.

Over half of those surveyed said the break-up wasn't amicable, and women (26%) are more likely than men (16%) to prevent their partner from seeing their child. 

Men (39%) are most likely to divorce because they've fallen out of love, whereas women's top reason (35%) is their partner having an affair.

Top 5 reasons for divorce

Simply falling out of love is the most common reason for the breakdown of British marriages, followed by cheating:

• We fell out of love - 36%
• My partner was cheating - 30%
• My partner met someone else - 19%
• Lack of commitment - 19%
• Work commitments - 19%

In terms of ages, 25 to 34 year-old Brits are more likely to divorce, either due to their partner cheating (36%), or work commitments (33%).  The over 55s, however, are more likely to divorce because they've just fallen out of love (35%).

Any regrets?

Are Brits being too hasty in calling time on their marriage?  How many wish they could turn back the clock?

Almost three quarters (72%) of those surveyed admitted they didn’t try to fix their relationship before parting ways, and a fifth said they went on to regret divorcing their partner.

Men tend to regret divorce (28%) more often than women (13%).  Perhaps this ties in to the financial situation, where men report being financially worse off.  In addition, women are less likely to want to reconcile with someone who has cheated on them.

Comment

Andrew Cullwick, spokesperson for First4Lawyers said: "It is always a tough time when a marriage ends, especially when it isn’t amicable, and children and finances are always going to be impacted in some way.

"We were quite surprised to learn how many Brits regret breaking up with their partner, yet didn’t attempt to save the relationship in the first place. All marriages face hurdles, and we would advise people to have open honest discussions to try and work through any issues.”

_{Research conducted via Onepoll on behalf of First4Lawyers
2,000 British adults were polled in January 2018.}