Couples in the United States are divorcing at higher rates than normal, according to state courts across the country.
A July survey recorded by Legal Templates, an online database compiling legal documents, found that lawyers across the country reported a 34% year-over-year increase in inquiries about divorce since 2019.
Lawyer Emily Wash told Business Insider that this time of year is typically “quiet” but that in a year where nothing has been normal, requests for her services have risen.
“It’s quiet in the sense that my phone’s not ringing off the hook, but I’m working as if it’s any other busy week,” Walsh said. “We’ve got loads of [virtual] court appearances and motions to file, and it’s really busy.”
During a Fox News interview, attorney Jordan Linn suggested that a rise in divorce rates could be due to coronavirus restrictions that have kept couples cooped up inside.
“I think familiarity breeds contempt, and the more time they’re forced to be together where they don’t have an outlet outside of the marriage, because everything is so restrictive and their social lives outside of the house are restricted, those problems are magnified,” Linn said. “They quickly realize that as soon as [the divorce is final], they want out.”
Search-engine data company SEM Rush told Business Insider that online queries for divorce have skyrocketed since the pandemic began in March.
