When people are asked about the cost of divorce, they generally think of the bill that will be received from the lawyer, but although this can be an issue, the greater costs are not legal, but emotional and sometimes even physical.
The effect on the children
It is accepted that children are usually the ones who suffer most when parents divorce and this is true on more levels than you might imagine. Notwithstanding the arguments between parents, the emotional upheaval of separation and the feeling that they may somehow be to blame, children also suffer in terms of their school work and future opportunities.
It has been well documented that children who come from broken homes tend to suffer academically, scoring lower in maths than their counterparts with married parents. By the time they reach 13, they are generally six months behind in reading ability and they are 26% more likely to drop out of secondary school. Children who have experienced multiple break-ups suffer far longer and even as late as middle age, they are ten times more likely to have a major breakdown than those from a stable family.
The effect on the divorcing couple
No matter how the marital relationship may have been, it is unlikely that a divorce will be 100% stress free and amicable. The stress of the divorce can lead to poor health for either partner, which in turn can lead to time off work or lack of concentration and confidence. These issues are not easy to overcome and can be still causing problems years after the divorce itself has been dealt with officially. Issues that are not dealt with properly do not go away and this is one of the reasons why subsequent marriages are far more likely to fail than the first. By the time someone marries for a fourth time, the probability of his divorcing again is 84%, leaving many people wondering why anyone would want to go through with it in the first place.
The effect on the economy
As previously noted, one of the biggest problems is stress, which can have a knock-on effect for the workplace and subsequently the economy. Over 105 million work days are lost each year to stress, costing employers a whopping 1.24 billion. The longer the stress is left unchecked, the greater the amount of time an individual might need to recover once breaking point is reached.
The most important thing is to address the issues early on and deal with them with the help of experts. Facing the problems head on can make all the difference and no matter whether the issues are with the parents, the children or both, there is help available to ensure that immediate obstacles are overcome and that future problems are avoided by breaking the pattern of destructiveness that can sometimes become embedded in divorce cases. Only then can the parties involved break free and stop being emotionally and psychologically held back by bad experiences from the past.
This gust post has been created on behalf of Hughes Carlisle solicitors who provide quality interesting legal information throughout the web.
