Marriages are full of happy and tragic events. Unfortunately, some of the tragic events cause spouses to question what they really want and whether they are living their life to the fullest. Our divorce lawyers have noticed that these six life events are the ones that often lead to divorce because they distance couples rather than make them stronger:

1. Job Loss

Losing a job and worrying about finances can hinder a marriage. Income loss can change the way a couple spends their time and lives their life. It can also cause one spouse to constantly worry about the unemployed spouse and feel stressed out about being the sole breadwinner.

We have all heard it, “once a cheater always a cheater” but does cheating always point to the physical indiscretions of one partner against the other and the almost certain basis for a divorce? A recent article explores eight varying circumstances and actions that may be classified as non-physical cheating and how these activities can collapse a marriage all too quickly.

Outside Interests

There is no harm in harboring a hobby but when that activity takes away a significant amount of time from your spouse he or she may feel the same type of neglect as if you were involved in a physical relationship outside the marriage.

It appears as the American dream of marriage, owning a home and bringing the average of 2.5 children into the world, may be a shrinking violet. As millennials are pushing the marital age limits to 27 for women and 29 for men, the iconic picture of the traditional household is changing, especially when it comes to bringing a child into the fold. Taken from U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the number of two-parent households with children has declined by 20 percent since the 1970s.

Seen as a substantial decline, researchers contribute the results to millennials opting to marry later in life, the uncertainty of changes in current lifestyle, economic strain, alternative living arrangements and the underlying fear that the marriage will not endure the test of time, resulting in a divorce.

These hesitations are not unfounded as years of research indicates that once a child is born, the marriage and the relationship between partners undergoes a transformation.

A recent national publication ran an article with the headline, “Men Without Full-Time Jobs Are More Likely to Divorce.” This may seem like a “no-brainer” as arguments stemming from financial difficulties is often listed as the primary reason couples tend to divorce.

A recent study authored by Alexandra Killewald, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, found that for couples married between 1975 and 2011, whether or not the husband held full-time employment outside the home was rarely an issue, but for couples married after 2011, the issue of paid and non-paid work was more likely to affect the stability of the marriage.

Killewald found that financial stability and who earns the paycheck does not necessarily indicate a divorce is looming but rather that the stability of the marriage depends on the behaviors and stereotypic notions of each spouse, i.e., husband-breadwinner and wife-homemaker. If there is conflict in this area, the marriage could be jeopardized.

The average age of a failed marriage spans approximately 8.8 years before the couple is either seeking marriage counseling or the counsel of an experienced divorce attorney.

There are various reasons why couples forgo the counseling and navigate directly to seeking a qualified legal firm, but on a lighter note there are instances of bizarre reasons that brought an end to marital life.

The Thrill Is Gone. . .