Cohabitation does not have the stigma that it used to have, and it’s grown very popular. Part of the reason for this is that couples are getting married later on in life, with the average in their early 30s. They want to live together before this, and many of them do. Some even buy homes, have children and share bank accounts.
One reason that people do this is that they believe that it’s going to lower their divorce odds. They figure that they will “test out” the living arrangement before committing to it. If something goes wrong or if they’re not as happy as they thought they were going to be, then they can just break up without having to get a divorce. Couples who make it through this period, on the other hand, believe that they will have far lower odds of divorce.
But what do the stats tell us?
Interestingly, the statistics do not bear this out. The odds of getting divorced are just slightly higher if you live together before your marriage. They are slightly lower if you live separately.
It doesn’t make a drastic difference, but it’s notable simply because people often think that the divorce odds are going to be lower. And actuality, the exact opposite is happening, even if it’s not as if the divorce odds are dramatically increasing.
What this shows you is that any couple may get divorced, no matter how hard they try to avoid it. It happens, and it’s part of life. Just be sure you know what legal steps to take to make it go as smoothly as possible.