Legal experts in Greater Manchester prepare for 'Divorce Day'
The pressures of Christmas and New Year prompt many to file for divorce on the first Monday back after the holidays
The festive season may be a time of joy for some, but for others, it marks the beginning of the end of their marriage. Known as ‘Divorce Day’, 5th January is tipped to be the busiest day of the year for couples filing for divorce.
Simon Magner Mawdsley, from Aaron & Partners in Altrincham, has significant experience in supporting families through divorce proceedings.
Simon said: "We find there is an increase in enquiries in January, and it's become a bit of a thing to call it divorce day.
"Christmas is out of the way, children are back at school and people start to look at their personal circumstances and explore options, including divorce.
"We normally see about five and ten times more enquiries in the New Year.
"This year we've seen 50% more enquiries than we would normally see at this time of the year.
"There's been about 19,000 searches on Google recently for divorce lawyers which is about a 54% increase on the previous year."
Simon highlighted the importance of pursuing an amicable divorce: "People tend to concentrate, when they're looking at dividing assets, on what they deem to be matrimonial assets, so family homes, bank accounts.
"People tend to miss the fact that they're entitled to pension shares, businesses will need to be valued and taken into consideration, there may be maintenance claims, so there's lots of different permutations."
Simon said it's crucial to get professional advice: "People will try and do it themselves through Google and there's nothing wrong with that, but I would always suggest anybody thinking of going through a separation or divorce that they take specialist legal advice."