394 
Because almost 50% of marriages in the US end in divorce, there is a good likelihood that the people reading these words have been affected by divorce, in some way. The stats break down this way: 41% of first marriages end in divorce, 60% of second marriages end in divorce and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. You are more likely to stay married if you graduated from college, waited until you were at least 26 years old to marry and if you don’t smoke cigarettes.
(Suggested by Forbidden Knowledge)
(Suggested by Forbidden Knowledge)
Other factors which contribute to the likelihood of the success of your marriage are: your parents are still married, you live in a “Blue State” (i.e., predominantly “Liberal” for the non-US people reading this) – and surprisingly, if you are Atheists.
.
The jobs associated with the lowest divorce rates are (in order): agricultural engineers, transit police (!), members of the clergy and those whose jobs involve the direction of religious activities and education.
.
The jobs associated with the highest rates of divorce are (in order): dancers and choreographers, bartenders, massage therapists, gambling casino workers and extruding machine operators. Not quite sure what that last group means – but YOU know who you are!
.
In this ReasonTV interview, filmmaker Joe Sorge, director of the new documentary, ‘Divorce Corp,’ argues that because the legal code to get a divorce is so complex, nearly all respective parties have to hire expensive lawyers and pay legal fees that make the average non-contested divorce cost between $10,000 and $20,000. A contested divorce can run well over $50,000.
.
“It’s the fourth most common cause of bankruptcy in the United States,” says Sorge. In the past 40 years, the amount of divorce lawyers has exploded by 2000% in the State of California, alone.
.
NOTE: We normally do not use libertarian materials, which Reason.tv certainly is, their angle here probably being that there’s too much government in people’s business. But we’re running this because we think it’s interesting and informative, and thought-provoking. As to why there is so much “law” regulating human affairs in the US, just think about the fact the US is an ultra-capitalist nation and capitalism generates a huge amount of contract law, most of it related to property questions. Marriage happens to fit in this category, hence its inevitable complexities. Plus “law” is what lawyers do, say the cynics, which means this is a field that is constantly growing, pretty much like a wild fungus. —PG
