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This is because of the tremendous benefits that a marriage provides to the couple compared to individuals living alone.

We humans have a natural urge to form enduring bonds with others and live together in groups. We do not want to live a lonely life cut off from everyone else. Marriage is the only way society provides for us to enter into a lifelong relationship with others of the opposite sex. It is the only legally recognized form of cohabitation where each partner’s rights – as well as those of the children that may arise from the relationship – are defined and protected by law.

Marriage has substantial emotional benefits too. People living alone and facing life’s ups and downs can easily slip into depression. This is where the company of the other partner comes as a godsend. Your spouse provides a shoulder to you to lean on and speak encouraging words to boost your morale when the chips are down. Marriage is also an ideal arrangement for the propagation of human race. The married partners are expected to have children and provide them a secure and comfortable nest in which they can grow up into healthy adults.

But it is also a fact of life that despite all the advantages, marriages do break up as the partners choose to end the relationship and go their own ways. Why is this so? There are many reasons. Extramarital affairs are quite common due to modern lifestyle that ensures a frequent and easy interaction among people. The proverbial Seven-Year Itch is responsible for this as partners just get bored of seeing each other’s face every day and want a change.

Most marriages break up because the partners just cannot get along with each other and have incompatible personalities. In quite a few relationships, there is some kind of physical or emotional abuse involved and the victim partner decides to walk out as a way to escape the daily torture. In many families, lack of adequate resources is a reason for the parental split.

Regardless of how a family breaks up, there are many issues that have to be settled during divorce proceedings. These are mainly three – child custody, division of family property and maintenance to be payable to the wife for her and the children’s upkeep.

For division of property, courts have a tradition of favouring the wife and giving her a good share. This is because a feeling exists that single women after marriage are unable to fend for themselves as comfortably as their partners whose earning potential is considered much higher. This is also a way to compensate her for the fact that even a qualified and working woman has to leave her job and be a homemaker for many years after children are born. This long professional break seriously harms her earning prospects when she tries to rejoin her career later.

After divorce, there is a drastic change in the financial situation of both the partners and their living standard plunges compared to what it was earlier. The family income abruptly halves in cases where both of them were working. Divorce impacts the ex-husband in many ways. He loses a large chunk of the property and assets he had accumulated over the years to his ex-wife and is forced to start all over again. Also, he has to pay a hefty maintenance amount every month to his ex-partner for her own upkeep as well as that of the children. This monthly payment is absolutely essential if children have to get a proper education and upbringing. If the ex-husband remarries, then the problems worsen as he will have to take the responsibility of maintaining two families at the same time.

The financial situation may be much worse for the ex-wife who has no earning potential and has always been out of the job market. Often, the husband is not earning well and cannot afford to pay a maintenance that is sufficient to take care of the children. Such single mothers slip below the poverty line and fall on hard days and welfare doles. They are forced to do small odd jobs to make ends meet and maintain a minimum living standard. The mothers cannot afford the services of a baby-sitter and have to take the help of friends and relatives to look after the children when they are away working.

The financial implications of divorce are very serious. They are also the most overlooked when the partners are threatening each other with the final split, especially in families where only one partner has been earning. Both the partners should work out a way to survive financially before they decide to file for divorce. This is essential not only for their own welfare, but of the children, too, who depend on their parents for fulfilling their every need.