Numerous industries have felt the financial pinch in a wide variety of ways, as the long tentacles of the credit squeeze continue to reach out. An unexpected decrease has been in the number of divorces and separations, as fewer couples opt to file for divorce. Is it just that the financial crisis has made it much harder for couples to sell jointly owned homes, plus the greater difficulty of funding two separate households?

Grant Thornton’s recently surveyed matrimonial lawyers across the globe. Of the 20,000 surveyed, over half said the number of divorces have decreased. One of the partners of Grant Thornton’s Forensic and Investigation Service, Robert Kerr, said, “The reasons for the drop vary but certainly the financial carve-up that follows divorce settlements will be at the forefront of a couple’s minds when contemplating divorce”.

Gary Nickelson, President of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, (AAML) says, “For many spouses, the divorce process involves a great deal of long-term planning and waiting for better economic terms is often just another element of the overall process. A sudden drop in the net worth can effectively postpone the final decision from being made”.

The Office for National Statistics in Britain stated earlier this year that the number of divorces had dropped from 12.2 per 1000 couples in 2006, to 11.9 in 2007. This is a 26 year low. AAML reported an overall 27% decrease in the number of divorces.

Australia shows a continuous decrease in divorces over the last seven years. Officials say the divorce rate is now 23.6% lower than it was in 1986.

“The rate of marriage has dropped and therefore the rate of divorce has also dropped”, says Julian Lipson, a British lawyer.

Other authorities say the lower numbers of divorce are a direct reflection of 40 years of increasing government spending, treating the effects of broken homes and formulating a cultural alteration in attitudes towards marriage.

Is the world really heading for longer-lasting marriages, are couples pulling together more, or is it simply that financial considerations are at the base of the trend?