Divorce Statistics

A reader sent me some really interesting divorce statistics:

• 900,000 people divorce each year nationwide;  18,000 avg. per state/year.
• 600,000 ex-spouses pay alimony (IRS 2017**); 96% are men, 4% women estimated.

• 19,000 alimony payers have $0 annual income.
• 351,000 alimony payers have annual incomes $1 - $100,000.
• 210,000 alimony payers have annual incomes over $100,000.
• $12.7 billion annual alimony payments (IRS 2017), calculates to $21,200 avg. alimony payer/year.
• A majority of alimony payers live on 1/3rd or less of their gross income in a subsistence life style.
• Big picture, there are so few alimony payers in the US with 12,000 avg. per state, no meaningful alimony reform is likely in the foreseeable future.

• 300,000 couples over age 50 divorce annually, and in 2030 will balloon to more than 400,000 busted marriages.
• 16% of divorce cases request alimony; given in 6-15% approx. or 150,000 cases per year.
• 85% of the time wives begin the divorce proceedings as they want out, and some do it for the security of the money while getting rid of you.  The result after divorce, most parties get screwed.

• Post-divorce 100% of alimony payers experience a drop in their lifestyle standards.  Those with incomes less than $100,000/year really suffer as they cannot afford to live on 1/3 of their gross salary.
• The recipient ex-spouse who was fortunate enough to divorce a payer spouse with an income over $100,000/year, generally may have an increased lifestyle (as 25%+/- cohabitate) often with another mate on $100K plus, with a nicer house, more expensive food, and nicer vacations after the divorce.

• Child Support:
• 85% of custodial parents are mothers, and 45% of children living with a divorced mother live at or near the poverty line. 
• Only 50% of custodial parents are awarded child support, and only 45% receive the full amount.
• $28.8 billion annual child support collected for 15.6 million children (2017 OSCE report), or $1850/ child in IV-D program.
• $7 billion (27%) of the money collected annually for child support is spent by federal and state Child Support Enforcement agencies for enforcement.  (2009 OCSE report).
• There is $89 billion in uncollected or past due child support.
• 11,000 approximate child support-related suicides annually, and alimony-related suicides TBD.

Divorce is a $50 billion/year nationwide business spent on CS/alimony payments and legal expenses, with the courts spending $21 billion/year of the total.  This is why the avg. divorce costs $50,000.

**   The 2017 IRS archive records show 600,000 alimony payers who listed alimony as a tax deduction on their 1040 tax form filings, but this count includes both permanent and limited term alimony payers.  To clarify, the 600,000 payers we are considering are alimony only, and do not include child support.  So let's say of the reported total paying alimony, the best low estimate is that 50% of the 600,000 are permanent payers, so there are 300,00 - 500,000 permanent alimony payers nationwide.

Great, although quite disturbing information. 

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