Will Summer 2025 See More Divorces? Find Out About Seasonal Divorce Trends and Where to Turn for Legal Help with Your Divorce in Chicago
Do divorce lawyers and tax accountants have something in common (more than wearing suits to work most of the time?). The answer is yes – they may see a flurry of work depending on the season. Indeed, with tax accountants seeing a ton of work in the early part of the year as their clients gear up for tax season and file their taxes, divorce lawyers and those who assist with the divorce process also are now reported to also get a burst of cases twice a year. For divorce lawyers, says NPR News, the pattern is apparently a little different, with divorce filing hitting “two peaks per year – one in late summer and the other in early spring.” Some lawyers also see a peak in January, a month so infamously famous for divorce cases after the winter holiday season ends, that is it has been coined “Divorce Month.” One lawyer said of January Divorce Month, “In December and January, parties just don’t tend to initiate divorce and family law proceedings…it’s a drop-off of 50%…Whether they’re celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, and then New Year’s, folks typically put these cases on hold…That seems to be true no matter what we do. We could spend money advertising and try to do things, but it just doesn’t work.”
With the practical and anecdotal evidence from those on the legal side of things indicating a divorce trend in the spring and summer, and during Divorce Month, it is interesting to also hear about the raw data. A 2016 study from the University of Washington revealed a trend when it comes to the seasonality of divorce in the United States. That study found that divorce cases “consistently peaked in March and August.” Of that study sociology professor Julie Brines said, “People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past…They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense.”
Timing and Your Chicago Divorce Case – What is Right for You?
So, with all of that said, is there a “best time” to get a divorce, depending on the seasons? The answer is likely no. The right time to initiate a divorce case isn’t necessarily any particular date of the month or season of the year, but, rather, when things start to go south in your marriage, and you think that it is time to potentially end things with your spouse. At this point, the best thing that you can do is seek legal help from an experienced Chicago divorce lawyer. An experienced Chicago divorce lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and options, and help guide you through the next steps.
If you are in the Chicago area and you need legal help with your Chicago divorce case, contact the experienced Chicago divorce lawyers at the law firm Arnoux Sharma & Standeford, LLC. The experienced Chicago divorce lawyers at Arnoux Sharma & Standeford, LLC are here to help individuals in Chicago with their complex divorce cases. Contact Arnoux Sharma & Standeford, LLC and speak to a lawyer about your case now.
Source:
npr.org/2025/06/05/nx-s1-5415880/divorce-months-seasons-why
