Courts nationwide witness a significant rise in divorce filings as courts slowly start opening to the public. However, it remains to be seen if the numbers are rising due to courts picking up pace after pandemic-caused delays, or the lockdowns harmed more couples than previously thought.
As reported by The New York Times, the Superior Court of California has seen a significant rise in LA divorces over the last five months, especially when compared to 2020. Experts claim the same trend was noted in New York and other US states.
NY-based divorce lawyer, Marilyn Chinitz, explains that divorce cases are now much more complex than it was the case before COVID-19 hit. The reason for this is the nature of problems spouses seem to face in everyday life — problems that they didn’t face before.
More and more couples find themselves in court discussing vaccination, wearing masks, or remote work and education. According to Mrs. Chinitz, a lot of them face problems agreeing on child-raising matters: do nannies have to be vaccinated, should the kid keep getting remote education, etc.
A recent survey conducted in Nashville collected data on the effect of lockdown on marriages. A total of 2,704 married people were asked to rate their personal opinion on the state of their relationship. Around 21% of participants stated that the pandemic harmed their household through new rules and the reopening.
