The end of the year is a time for celebrating the past 12 months and looking ahead to the future. A lot of people in Arizona use this time to think about their goals for 2020 or which resolutions they should try out this year. Some, however, are planning something a little more significant. As New Year’s Day brings in a brand new year, a significant number of people will be filing for divorce.
This is because there is another season that follows soon after the end-of-year holidays — the divorce season. Every January, the number of divorce filings shoots up to around 33%. This is likely in part because some people want to wait until after family celebrations to make such a big move, but there is also more to it than that. For couples who are already unhappy, the holidays can be the one thing that makes it impossible to avoid big issues.
Issues with money and time are common in marriage, but for some, they are a much bigger problem than being annoyed at arriving late or an extra $5 spent on coffee. Married couples have to coordinate schedules that might have been out of sync for a long time, or fight over whose family to spend which days with. The pressure of presenting a picture-perfect holiday can also push some people to spend more than they can afford. This only amplifies any existing money stress.
The holiday season has a unique effect on Arizona couples who are unhappy in their marriages. For example, an unhappy couple can no longer pretend that time — especially time coordinated and spent together — is not an ongoing issue, or that one or both spouses’ spending habits have pushed everything too far. Rather than feel guilty for planning to file for divorce while still in the middle of the holiday season, focusing on the future and gathering important financial information can be more helpful.
