The Change in Marriage and Divorce Rates

Marriage and Divorce rates have changed greatly since the 1950's!  According to the NPR series 'Newly Wed in America', a whopping 20% of the population in United States will never get married--this is up from 5% in 1950.  In addition, a larger percentage of this group will opt for having children without being married.  Those who do marry will tend to marry later and this is linked to both education rates and wealth.  The more educated and wealthier people will tend to marry later, while those with less education and wealth will marry earlier.  The good news is that the divorce rate is falling for all socioeconomic groups--the divorce rate had reached a peak in the 1980s.  What does this mean for divorce and family law?  It means that if you are part of the 20% group who decide to opt out of marriage, you should find out if your state supports 'common law marriages'.   According to Wikipedia, only 11 states allow for 'common law marriage' and California is not one of them.  If you live in California in a 'common law marriage' and purchase property together or have assets that are shared, your recourse for separation issues would be in civil court under the 'palimony law'.  In addition, if you have children together and are not married, you will need to do a Paternity Action to establish who the father is and to address custody, visitation and support for the children should you decide to separate.  It remains to be seen whether those who marry later tend to stay married and whether they are more reasonable when faced with divorce and agree to a Settlement Agreement as opposed to fighting it out in court.  Stay tuned to NPR for more on this series or follow NPR at www.npr.org .