Divorce enquiries to legal firms have surged by 95 per cent in the wake of the pandemic, with women making up the majority of queries, new figures show.
Data from the UK’s largest family law firm, published on The Independent website, showed the proportion of inquiries surged from 4,505 in January to March last year to 8,801 queries between January and March of this year.
Stowe Family Law, which polled 400 people across the country, discovered around three-quarters of couples who separated or got divorced during the coronavirus crisis say they had no tensions before the pandemic began.
The survey found the main reason couples cited for going separate ways was spending too much time together, which led to too many arguments – with almost a quarter saying this.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed women have been more likely to initiate divorce proceedings against men in England and Wales since 1949 – with some 62 percent of divorces between men and women in 2019 requested by the wife.
While this is the same amount as the year before, the gender disparity between men and women filing for divorce has decreased in recent years – falling 10 percentage points since the peak of 1992 when wives filed for 72 percent of divorces.
The research also found around 7 in 10 have been more anxious about their financial situation because of the Covid-19 crisis. While almost half said financial worries had triggered conflict in their relationships.
