Millennials around New York and throughout the United States are changing the standard American ideas about marriage. They are changing conceptions about divorce, too.
What are millennials changing about marriage? Here are four key things:
- They are getting married at an older age – an all-time high, in fact. The median age of a first marriage in the nation is now 27 for women and 29 for men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Millennials are taking more time to choose a partner as well as to become financially stable before they tie the knot.
- Millennials don’t think they have to plot their lives in the traditional order of marriage, house and baby. In fact, more couples than ever are living together and buying homes together before they get married. Housing prices make buying a property together, and splitting the mortgage and other expenses a necessity in many cases. Home ownership has taken priority over marriage.
- Some millennials are deciding not to get married at all, particularly if they are children of divorce themselves.
- If they do decide to marry, more millennial couples are entering into prenuptial agreements. In fact, a 2016 survey of attorneys done by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers showed that about half of those attorneys reported an uptick in the number prenups, especially among millennials.
Millennials and their attitudes toward marriage have created a drop in the divorce rate. Still, that doesn’t mean this is a divorce-proof generation. Anyone at any age who is pondering divorce should consult with an attorney to discuss the best way to proceed.
