Marriage Rates Falling – Except for Older Couples

06/03/2018

Marriages are at their lowest level since the early 1970s, according to figures release by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

In 2015, the number of opposite sex couples getting hitched decreased by 3.4% in comparison to 2014, from 247,372 to 239,020.

This is the lowest on record, with 21.7 marriages per thousand unmarried men and 19.8 marriages per thousand unmarried women.

Despite this, however, the rate of older couples tying the knot has actually increased for men aged 50 and over and women in the age brackets 35–39 and 45 and over.

2015 was also the first full year to reveal statistics relating to same sex weddings, which accounted for 2.6% of all marriages. Of the 6,493 same sex marriages that took place, 56% were between female couples. A further 9,156 same-sex couples converted their civil partnership into a marriage.

Donna Leigh, a specialist in family law at Russell and Russell, said: “We’re potentially looking at a shift in the way people live. It’s no longer a priority to get married; many people are choosing to live together as unmarried partners instead. The reasons for this trend are unclear.

“Whilst it’s great that people are committed enough to set up a home together, it’s still important to ensure that they protect their assets. We see a lot of people who’ve split up and are looking to retrieve the money they’ve put into the house. Unfortunately, if there’s no legal document to ring fence any additional money they’ve put in, the equity in a property will most likely be divided equally. In this situation, I’d always advise anyone buying a house with someone to set up a Deed of Trust which outlines the how much extra they’ve put in. That way, if things do go wrong, at least they can get their money back if that’s what the parties agree that they would want to happen.”