Divorce

Recent research from America has found that married couples have a much higher level of personal wellbeing than people who are divorced or separated.

The study, by Gallup, scored individual's wellbeing based on six individual categories - life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities.

The study found that married Americans had the highest wellbeing score (68.8) and people who were separated had the lowest score (55.9). Divorced people scored slightly higher than those who were separated, at 59.7. The scores for Americans who were single, widowed or cohabiting fell in between the married and separated scores.

Based on these figures, the study concluded that personal wellbeing can be directly affected by a person's marital status.

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the 'divorce' settlement paid to a gay man after the break up of his civil partnership should be reduced by over £200,000, reports the Independent.

Don Gallagher, an actor, and Peter Lawrence, an equity analyst, had lived together since 1997, and entered into a civil partnership in 2007. Their relationship broke down seven months later.

The couple had joint assets worth around £4 million, including a London flat that Mr Lawrence had bought before the couple met. The majority of their income had come from Mr Lawrence, while Mr Gallagher had taken more of a 'home making' role along with continuing his acting career.

After the couple split up, the court awarded Mr Gallagher a £1.7 million share of the assets in recognition of his contribution to the relationship, however Mr Lawrence argued that this was too large a share. The Court of Appeal upheld his appeal, and ruled that the settlement should be reduced.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has carried out a recent survey into cohabitation, marriage and divorce in America, reports Yahoo! News.

The study found that around half of first time marriages break up within 20 years. The research also found that engaged couples living together before marriage were no more likely to get divorced than couples who got married before they moved in together.

Commenting on the study findings regarding cohabitation, Casey Copen, lead author of the study, said; "It's not playing as big a role in predicting divorce as it used to."

However, according to Yahoo!, couples that eventually got married after cohabiting for a time without being engaged were found to have a greater risk of divorce.

A recent study by researchers at Michigan State University have found that divorce at a younger age hurts people’s health more than divorce later in life. According to Hui Liu, the author of the study, the findings suggest older people have more coping skills to deal with the stress of divorce.

A recent research project in America has found that a 'good divorce' is almost impossible to achieve, in terms of the impact divorce has on children, reports the Daily Mail.

The government has published its response to the recommendations of the family justice review panel, in which it outlines proposed reforms to tackle delays, streamline processes and rebuild trust.