The coronavirus pandemic put a significant strain on relationships as couples were forced to stay at home as businesses were shut down across the country. In addition to spending more time together, couples have been forced to deal with the financial stresses of losing income, adjusting to working from home, and having to help their kids as they transitioned to distance learning.
According to a survey, 31% of respondents said the lockdowns caused irreparable damage to their relationships. As a result, the number of divorces in the country has soared.
The impact of being stuck at home for most of the day was seen in mid-April, just three weeks after most states shut down their economies to slow the spread of COVID-19. Legal Templates, which provides legal documents online, noticed a surge in demand for divorce paperwork. The company said they saw a 57% increase compared to February. They found that newlyweds were the most likely to seek a divorce.
Legal Templates said that 58% of couples who were seeking a divorce had been married less than five years. In 2019, couples married less than five months accounted for 11% of their sales, but in the first few months of 2020, they accounted for 20% of sales.
The company also tracked the number of divorces by region and found that people living in the south were three times as likely to seek a divorce than people living in other areas of the United States.
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