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Lawyers are reporting a surge in requests for advice about separation and divorce after the summer holidays, as couples emerge from extended periods together resolving to part ways.
Jodylee Bartal, an accredited specialist in family law and a principal solicitor at Melbourne firm KHQ Lawyers, said she typically observed a “spike” in requests for advice about divorce in December, “just before Christmas, and in January”.
This year, the trend ramped up. Bartal said new client enquiries in family law matters in January more than tripled the December figure.
One new client had received a “rather unexpected letter from her ex’s lawyer on December 24 and needed urgent advice about property, parenting and child support matters”, she said.
Another client had agreed with his wife that their marriage was at an end and to separate under the same roof but to “delay telling the kids”. “It ‘blew up’ over the holidays,” Bartal said.
“People get to the end of the calendar year and think about what they want to bring into the new year.
“Financial pressures are often a trigger for conflict. There is also the stress of managing the care of kids over the almost seven-week break and work commitments.”
Bartal said that “for the more complex financial matters, such as where there are businesses involved, December and January makes sense from a financial reporting point of view”.
“Fourth-quarter financials are in, [and] six months of data gives a pretty good indication of the likely end of financial year results.
“The parties think, sometimes optimistically, they have six months to negotiate an in-principle agreement and ‘close out’ their financial relationship by the end of financial year.”
She said couples or individuals thinking about separating from their partner needed to consider issues such as strategies for separating safely, whether they “should move out or is it better to stay in the house”, and interim financial and parenting arrangements.
Under Australian family law, couples must have been separated for at least 12 months before they can apply for a divorce. It is possible to be separated while living under the same roof, but there may be safety and other considerations.
Court filings
The increase in requests for advice about divorce in the New Year is not reflected in court filings in January due to the lag between starting the separation process and filing an application for divorce in the Federal Circuit and Family Court. Court registries and law firms also shut down in late December to early January.
A monthly breakdown of divorce applications filed between 2021 and January, supplied by the Federal Circuit and Family Court, reveals applications for divorce have been relatively steady in January over the past six years. This year, 3381 applications were filed, compared with 3449 last year.
The 2021-25 figures show divorce applications increased each February compared with the previous month.
Last year, applications peaked in July and August, at 4345 and 4272 respectively, and decreased towards the end of the year, ending with 3265 in December.
‘Divorce season’
Hayder Shkara, principal of Justice Family Lawyers, said: “What makes January different is not that relationships suddenly fail, but that people finally feel able, emotionally and practically, to act on decisions they’ve been sitting with for some time.
“While there isn’t a single official dataset that labels January as ‘divorce season,’ there is a well-recognised and consistent trend across the family law sector that enquiries … spike in the first quarter of the year, particularly in January and February.”
Hayder said that “in the last week of January, our office was contacted by a parent who had stayed in an unhappy relationship through Christmas so their children could enjoy the holidays”.
“Within days of school returning, they moved out of the family home and urgently sought advice because there were no agreed arrangements in place for the children.
“January was the point where living in limbo became unworkable and the need for formal advice became immediate.”
Michael Tiyce, principal of Sydney law firm Tiyce & Lawyers, said his firm often saw “peaks in enquiry after long periods of time that people have spent together”, such as after school holidays and when COVID lockdowns were lifted.
Tiyce said “underlying tensions and issues come to a head when people are spending more time together”.
“Often people are consuming more alcohol, and sometimes other substances, which can lead to frayed tempers,” he said.
“In other cases, people simply come to the realisation that they have had enough and that it is time to bring the relationship to a close.”
Tiyce said that “while we always provide people with details for therapy or counselling, which some take up and others choose not to, following these sorts of periods we make a point of ensuring that people are clear that they are making a final decision”.
“It should not be a decision made simply out of exhaustion caused by changed routines or environments.
“This is particularly important given the significant impact such a decision will have on their own lives, as well as on the lives of their spouse or partner and any children involved.”
An application for divorce must be filed in court. Other issues between the parties such as parenting arrangements and property division can be settled outside court.
“If couples do decide to separate,” Tiyce said, “they should expect to receive very clear advice from their family lawyer that the matter should be negotiated and, where possible, resolved through negotiation or mediation.
“It is now very unusual for parties to simply proceed directly to the Family Court. There are rules governing why that cannot or should not occur, but as a matter of practicality, the cost – both financial and emotional – and the level of stress and conflict involved in litigation are so great that people should do everything they reasonably can to avoid it.”
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