1 in 5 UK Divorces Now Include Violence

December 22, 2021

Domestic abuse allegations are now the highest reason for online divorce filings with 1 in 5 online divorce petitions citing violence of some sort as one of the reasons for divorce according to research by online divorce company divorce-online.co.uk

The company carried out a study on 3000 divorce petitions filed between April 2020 and November 2021 in their database and found the keyword “violence” appeared in 20% of unreasonable behaviour petitions up from 5% in 2019.

The COVID pandemic, lockdowns, travel bans and work from home orders have contributed to a massive rise in domestic abuse which is translating into increased violence in marriages.

Some common risk factors that increase the likelihood of perpetrators committing violence have ratcheted up during the pandemic—for example, cramped living conditions; limited mobility; and increased insecurity over health, jobs, and money.

Watch Post Commentary: We are reminded of the verse in Matthew, "And because of the abundance of evil, the love of many will grow cold" (24:12). We live in sad times, friends.