The Future of Marriage
Prince William is getting married, and as was bound to happen, marriage as an institution is getting a lot more press.
Time Magazine had a cover story on the state of marriage in the 21st century. They reported a lot of interesting statistics that I would like to share with you in case you missed the article. As a Chicago divorce lawyer, the statistics intrigued me.
In 1960, nearly 70% of American adults were married. Now, only half are.
In 1960, 66% of 20-sometings were married. In 2008, 26% were.
Additionally, nowadays eight times as many children are born out of wedlock and college graduates are much more likely to marry (64%) than those with no higher education (48%).
A Pew Research study found that 40% of people think marriage is obsolete.
With all these statistics and accusations that marriage is no longer what it was flying about; it makes me wonder about the future of marriage. Will marriage continue? Will divorces continue to rise?
In my opinion, marriage is not going anywhere and the institution will continue to define our society far into the future, even though many end up in divorce. Especially when there is a battle going on in our country just for the right to be married, it seems foolish to write it off as obsolete.
Especially when you consider the following statistic, also from the Time article:
44% of Americans under 30 believe that marriage is heading for extinction; only 5% in that age group do not want to get married.
I don’t see marriage changing significantly anytime soon, but I am certainly enjoying the debate and conversation around it. Many of my divorce attorney colleagues have joined the discussion. What do you see for the future of marriage?
Michael C. Craven is a well-known divorce attorney in Chicago, CPA and a partner of the law firm, Beermann Swerdlove, LLP (Formerly of Beermann, now a Partner at Harrison LLP) located in the Chicago area. He is highly respected among other divorce attorneys, judges and his clients. He also holds a Master of Tax Law Degree (LLM). For more information about his services, contact Michael at mcraven@harrisonheld.com or at Divorce Lawyers Chicago.
