While squabbles over money have split up many a marriage, the
lingering global recession is helping keep couples together -- for
better and for worse.
More than half of the 1,600 lawyers who responded to a recent American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers survey reported a significant drop in divorce filings since the last quarter of 2008.
"The current economic climate is proving to be far more unforgiving than estranged couples seeking a divorce," said AAAML president Gary Nickelson.
Overall 57 percent of the attorneys surveyed noted fewer divorce filings since this time a year ago. According to matrimonial experts, the average divorce ranges from $2,500 to $10,000. A contested divorce, however, can approach $100,000 in legal fees alone.
"We've been getting as many consultations, but people have become much slower to file," said Atlanta divorce attorney Randy Kessler, whose client roster includes Tameka Foster Raymond, estranged wife of singer Usher, rapper Juvenile and Bishop Thomas Weeks III. "People are being much more cost-conscious about everything, including divorce."
And they're arguing less over picayune details.
"I'd have people spending thousands of dollars arguing over an extra visitation day," Kessler said. "Not seeing much of that now."
Source: Christian Boone (cboone@ajc.com), Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Past anything, the epidemic of divorce is affecting many in our churches. It is hard to cry out from our churches one woman one man, if we can't be continued examples of keeping our marriages together.
Les not forget that the first miracle of our savior was not in a church but a marriage. We must continue to invite him in to help our marriage.
Pastor and Author T. Charles Brantley
http://www.rest.org/SandMplus.htm