The reasons lawyers say quarantine divorce is more likely for newlyweds

Lawyers say divorce rates are spiking because of the pandemic and newlyweds seem to be driving the spike.

Couples are arguing over things they’ve never argued about before. But since many are stuck in their shared homes all day with no separation, those arguments are becoming more frequent and more intense.

“Before you might’ve forgotten about it and you wouldn’t have seen each other until the end of the day,” said Melissa Barris, Senior Associate attorney. “Now, you’re face-to-face dealing with issues. You’re not getting unemployment, stress levels are going up, excitement is going up that is obviously brought it all to a boiling point.”

Barris also says that not only are couples face-to-face now, but many COVID and kid-specific concerns are also showing up in divorce proceedings.

“We have parents who differ on whether or not a child should wear a mask all day,” Barris explained.

“Are we going to put our child in school? Are we going to do e-learning? Are we going to do virtual learning?” are other questions Barris said they ask a lot.

Divorce may feel different since 2020 seems to have brought up new problems. But, divorces also look different.

Couples and their lawyers now skip the courtroom and proceedings are done through Zoom.

Data collected by legal temps suggest that divorce spiked 34% between March and June compared to the same period last year. Of those, 20% of the couples filing for divorce were married for five months or less.