Although divorce is becoming a common phenomenon in recent years, but it represents a major life stressor for the individuals who experience divorce, with potentially strong negative consequences for all family members’ financial, mental, and physical health. As a result, the financial impact of divorce on the family’s wellbeing has been the subject of research for several decades. It has long been viewed as the cause of a range of serious and enduring behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents.

 Parents used to stay longer in marriage for the interest of their children’s welfare even if they faced marital problems. Unfortunately, now so many couples end their marriage even for a simple reason and become single parents. No matter how single parent deals with these challenges, the consequences are far weightier compared to couples living together.

 Divorce affects the couple who is ending their marriage and affects the future of their children as well. In the United States, approximately one million children are affected by divorce each year. Research has shown that parental divorce has many negative financial effects on children. Academic failure, poor peer relationships, and lack of commitment in the relationship are some effects of divorce on children. 

In 2014, data from the United States National Centre for Health Statistics stated that compared children from single-parent and even remarried families have more than twice the chances of experiencing emotional, behavioral, and, therefore, financial problems. These problems do not diminish overtime and continue throughout adolescence and into adulthood of the children, which affect them financially in the future. 

The Financial Effects Of Divorce On The Households

Divorce results in different consequences on the financial well-being of both men and women. For instance, after the divorce, females experienced an income decline of about 30 percent while males experienced about a 10 percent drop in income. Three years after the failure of their marriages, divorced women experience greater adversity than their married peers. 

During the first year after divorce, custodial parents were more anxious, depressed, angry, and self-doubting than were married couples. They also showed comparatively less affection to their children, communicated less with them, punished them more, and were more inconsistent in their use of discipline. 

Moreover, divorced mothers experienced a greater number of stressful events such as demotions, layoffs, accidents, critical illnesses, and problems with their own parents than did married women. All the above issues have led the divorced parents to be trapped in a vicious cycle of financial problems and other stressful life events. 

Most divorced women in some developing countries, where there is no child support or social support, were housewives, and these divorced women mostly gain custody of children without financial support. The causes and the socioeconomic impacts of divorce on women and their children concluded that divorced women in Ethiopia, for example, are economically weak and usually engage in informal sectors, such as selling homemade products, collecting wood, and retailing activities after divorce. This makes their lives miserable. 

Other financial disadvantages, which are considered to be life changes for divorced parents, lead custodial parents to experience major changes in their lives, including a change in residential arrangements, economic disadvantage, the loneliness associated with social network changes, and role strain associated with the task overload that results from having to care for children and work outside the home. 

Health changes in divorced couple’s residential arrangements, economic status, social networks, and role demands lead to deterioration in physical and mental health, leading to financial problems for most individuals immediately following separation. 

What Are The Financial Effects Of Divorce On Men?

Some men experience a 10–40 percent drop in their standard of living. As a result of child support and other divorce-related payments, a separate home or apartment and the possible loss of an ex-wife’s income add up.

• In the United States, men who provide less than 80 percent of a family’s income before the divorce suffer the most from the divorce.
• On the other hand, men who provided more than 80 percent of a family’s income before a divorce do not suffer as much financial loss and may even marginally improve their financial situation.
• Fathers with custody or who share custody of children have additional financial expenses and commitments.
• Often, men’s earnings are garnished by the state. In other words, money they owe for child support, for instance, is taken out of their salaries. In the United States in particular, some men who have been divorced several times have to pay most of their salary for child support. 

What Are The Financial Effects Of Divorce On Women?

When it comes to the financial effects on women, they suffer more financially than do men from divorce. The financial burden is greatest during the first year after the divorce and varies depending on: 

1. How much money the woman contributed to the family income before divorce, and 
2.  The ability and willingness of her former husband to make child support payments.

• In the United States, one in five women falls into poverty as a result of divorce. In developed countries, the 2014 poverty line for a family of three is less than 20,000 USD a year.
• In the United States, one in four women loses their health insurance for some time after divorce.
• In the United States and most developed countries, one in three women who own a home and have children at home when they divorce lose their homes.
• In the United States, three out of four divorced mothers with child-support orders don’t receive their full payment.
• Women often need the help of public assistance programs to supplement their family finances, which often fail to cover all financial necessities after divorce.

What Are The Financial Effects Of Divorce On Children?

Globally, the financial burdens of divorce cause children to spend less time with parents, have fewer extracurricular opportunities, lose health insurance, and refrain from going to college.

• In the developed countries, children with divorced parents spend less time with their parents. As a result of this, a parent who previously stayed at home or worked only part-time would probably work full-time after divorce.
• Children with divorced parents often experience less opportunities or advantages of, for instance, access to extra activities such as music lessons, summer camps, sports, choir, and drama because of strained finances.
• Children from divorced homes struggle more in school and are less likely to graduate from high school. They are also less likely to attend college because they lack the financial or emotional support.
• In the United States, some children lose insurance coverage, and others face medical expenses not covered by insurance, such as a chronic illness or orthodontic care.

When The Divorce Can Be Advantageous 

We are not here to regulate divorce by justifying or disqualifying the reason for divorce. But most of the people can agree that divorce can be a solution only if the marriage is, for instance, disastrous in a way that couples cannot avoid. Of course, parents must discourage the idea of divorce for simple minor reasons. As every relationship has challenges, moving from one relationship to another is not a solution.

 Although the negative aspects of divorce for couples have been overemphasized, divorce also has beneficial effects for a couple, particularly if their marriage is abusive and violent, which provides a solution to escape from a dissatisfying and abusive marriage. 

There are various factors that make the disintegration of marital union favourable for individuals who undergo the divorce process, which enables them to maintain their well-being. 

After marital disintegration, individuals who were going through abusive marital life eventually feel relief from a violent relationship. This is because their marital breakup stops the tension and the emotional strain they used to experience in their offensive marriage. Hence, the ending of problematic relationships leads to an improvement in an individual’s psychological, physiological, and, therefore, financial wellbeing.

In addition, studies have revealed that most couples who have been in a bad relationship, in the aftermath of marital disruption, achieve enhanced personal growth that leads to important psychological functioning. Some divorced individuals become fearless and spirited as they become released and are able to use the situation to start an important stage of financial growth. 

Furthermore, as a consequence of the divorce from a bad relationship, individuals are less occupied with their couple’s disposition and needs, and they got the freedom to spend time on their financial or business ambition, for instance. 

Moreover, some individuals who have been in a negative relationship, following divorce are able to experience a sense of autonomy that makes them free from unwanted relationships and allows them to heal from their grievances and move on with their lives as a result of the ending of a marital relationship. 

The other positive impact of divorce from a bad marriage is that it helps divorcees to revitalize themselves. 

How To Avoid The Financial Effects Of Divorce

· As we explained earlier, the rate of divorce is increasing rapidly in the world in general and escalating in developing countries in particular. So, due consideration should be taken to decrease the rate of divorce and therefore, the negative financial impacts on the individuals. For instance, in courts, different mechanisms, such as marriage counselling, should be introduced to keep couples marriage. 

Even if we don’t have marriage counsellors in our country, those who are working in court, for example, individuals or lawyers, can use different mechanisms to save couple’s marriage rather than simply following constitutions. However, the most effective way to avoid the negative financial effect of divorce is to avoid divorce in the first place

·  Recently, marriage is becoming very simple for most individuals than before. Couples are simply following their current love, which might not be true love. In psychology, true love is the combination of passion, commitment, and intimacy. Without these variables, we cannot say couples do have complete love. So working on the backgrounds of those coupes relationships plays an indispensable role in saving couple’s marriage. Most importantly, couple should be extra cautious when picking their partner before marriage. 

·  Religious institutions plays a significant role in marriage. As marriage is a big institution and has good contact with their religious fathers, the problems which were very difficult can be resolved. 

·  Awareness creation is very important in saving couples’ marriages. Providing psycho education that teaches the society the importance of marriage and the physical, social-psychological, and financial disadvantages of divorce might help especially illiterate communities. 

·  Professionals from psychology, sociology, business and economics, health, and law are very prone to provide information for communities through different projects and other activities. 

 

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