Quarantine Leading to Higher Rates of Divorce in California

Social distancing is causing a lot of stress for many across the state and country. Keeping yourself separated from people, even loved ones with whom you do not live has been difficult for non-custodial parents. Many parents are missing scheduled time with their children. While some are stretching the rules of social distancing at the risk of extending the quarantine time, others are using video software or they are spending a few hours together outdoors to have some time together.

Many of the issues we are seeing are as temporary as the quarantine. You cannot easily fix some problems. We mentioned that there are many people who are quarantined with abusive spouses or parents. Issues of abuse started long before the quarantine. You can see our blog post here. If you are in an abusive relationship, there is help available.

For many couples, the quarantine has exposed issues that might not have otherwise been a problem. During regular times, people have work, time with friends, or they have their hobbies, such as going to the gym. Most of these things are not available to people, so they are at home all day and all night.

Add the heightened stress of knowing people who have been sick or have died, and the worry of possibly getting sick yourself, and things at home can get very difficult.

Right now, courts are still closed except for emergencies. No new filings are allowed at this point. The expectation is that once the courts start to open, there is going to be a flood of new cases across the whole system. It is expected that the new divorce cases are going to exceed the number that we would see through the course of ordinary events. The quarantine is going to force many couples to end their marriage. The stress of the quarantine is too much for some to handle.

For many, it is not too late, and there are things you can do to alleviate the stress of being cooped up at home with no real end in sight.