Another year over, a new one just begun…
January: it’s the month of resolutions, gym memberships, and new beginnings.
But in the wake of all that Christmas merriment, glitter and lights, (and lots of family togetherness) all of us can feel a little flat and exhausted come the new year. But once the fairy dust settles and the last light is snuffed out, often it’s also the time of year we have a good hard look at our lives. And for many, they find themselves wanting. Wanting – a new job? A new kitchen? A new dress- size?
While some vow to quit bad habits in the new year, others make plans to quit their partner.
Here’s how it might start. They hear a fuzzy recording of an old Christmas favourite, remember dancing to it in the first flush of love, and think now it just sounds schmaltzy. They discover, when they actually spend more than a few hours together at a time, they no longer have anything in common. They might even go as far as realising they’d rather poke sticks in their eyes than put on this charade again for another year. These common January scenarios can push those high festive season emotions to breaking point.
In fact, many divorce lawyers worldwide consider January divorce month.
Yep. It has its own season.
Whether the surge in couples presenting with problems after Christmas is simply a backlog of cases (a hangover of families wanting to give the kids ‘one last Christmas’ before the split), the stress of the holidays incubating relationship-ending fights, or purely a return to reality after sugarcoating problems, no one can be sure.
But what is for certain, is the rise in phone enquiries, internet searches about separating, lodged applications for divorce and appointments scheduled at family lawyers swells by about a third, each January.
Lawyers who have consoled hundreds of struggling couples in their armchairs say there are several common signs of relationships on the precipice of a permanent split:
- Money. Read More…
By Kylie Kaden
