Money, property cited as biggest concerns

A few months ago, US legal resource Avvo released the results of a survey on divorce trends. They surveyed 900 of their users (people seeking legal information and services) and 400 lawyers practicing family law, and asked them about their biggest concerns surrounding the divorce process.

The answers probably won’t surprise you:  58% of respondents said that costs (both the legal costs associated with a divorce and the longer-term costs of child support or asset division) were their biggest concerns.  People with children were also very concerned about custody issues.

Now, this is a US-based study, and family law there is different from that in Ontario (and differs from state to state), but people who are contemplating divorce in Ontario often have the same concerns about money and custody. However, there’s usually no need to be too anxious, and here’s why:

• Custody isn’t a big issue as often as you might imagine, and it doesn’t get ugly as often as reality TV shows might have you believe
• Ontario family law has well-established guidelines for child support and other factors – this tends to prevent custody issues from becoming dramatic showdowns
• Because family law has well-established guidelines, divorce rarely becomes a long-drawn-out, expensive process for either party

I hope that puts your mind at rest, at least a little.  In the meantime, here’s the infographic summarizing Avvo’s findings.