The new year is incredibly exciting on many levels. People often view this as a chance to get a fresh start and make resolutions for how life will be different. They may be excited to celebrate New Year’s Day with their friends, perhaps while watching hockey or football games.
As fun as all that is, it’s important to note that divorce cases also spike in January. This may mean that the fresh start you get is a bit different than what you expected. If your spouse decides to start their year by filing for divorce, you may find yourself asking why this happened when it did.
Perhaps they were avoiding the holidays
One of the reasons that divorce cases increase in January is because the holiday months are not ideal for starting a divorce. It’s a time when you tend to see a lot of family members and friends, so you may not want to have to discuss your upcoming divorce over and over. For married couples who have children, there’s also some incentive to insulate this magical holiday from the realities of an adult divorce.
It may just be the cleanest way to break things off
But there are some tangible benefits to filing for divorce in January, as well. For one thing, couples will begin keeping track of separate finances. This means that they don’t have to file a joint tax return after the year is over. Getting divorced in January gives you a fresh start, a clean break and a full year to move forward with this new stage in your life.
What are your options?
If you do find that your marriage is going to end in divorce this year, be sure you understand all of your legal options. This is especially true if you’re a parent and you need to divide custody of your children.
