Not many people would describe divorce as an enjoyable process. Even if the divorce is in the best interests of everyone involved, and even if your life improves drastically after divorcing, the litigation process itself can be financially and emotionally draining. Divorce is different in each state, based on anything ranging from state specific laws, values or even cost of living. A divorce attorney recently wondered which states faced the most difficult divorces, and the results may surprise you.
According to data collected from a number of sources, including Bloomberg and the U.S. Census Bureau, the seven worst states for divorce are: Nebraska, New York, California, Arkansas, South Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont. What’s interesting about this information is that there appears to be no rhyme or reason that links these states. Politically, these states do not all lean one way or the other, and geographically, they range all across the country.
Fortunately for Texas residents, our state did not make the list, which should be comforting to anyone considering or going through a divorce. According to this study, compared to these other states, Texas divorces tend to be cheaper and require less jumping through legal hoops before couples are allowed to legally separate. Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean that your divorce will be easy. Texas may have easier laws, but your divorce could still be quite complex.
Many factors can accumulate to make a divorce more complicated. A large net worth accumulated in various assets or whether or not there are children could make a divorce that much more difficult. The age of the children and the length of the marriage can also affect the outcome of a divorce. In order to have the smoothest experience possible, it behooves individuals to enlist legal assistance to work closely with their specific cases.
Source: ABC News, “Top 7 Worst States for Divorce,” Aug. 6, 2014