The Cost of Divorce

$112 Billion and Rising!

Thanks to Phil Waugh at Covenant Marriage.

When we begin to assess the cost of divorce in our nation we can take a historical look back through time and with a great degree of confidence claim that divorce in our nation has taken a toll on our society.

Our nation has suffered greatly, at the hands of the judicial system, when it comes to the destruction of the home through the administering of the "no-fault" divorce laws enacted back in 1970. This has been very costly.

On the average, couples in the US spend $28,732 on their wedding. This does not include the honeymoon or wedding rings. This would be considered healthy to our nation's economy while on the other hand, a divorce costs the federal government approximately $30,000. Greater than this, family fragmentation costs U.S. taxpayers at least $112 billion each and every year.

As of April 15, 2008 we have a study that focuses on the Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and all Fifty States. This study provides us with some truly startling and quite significant information regarding the rising cost of divorce to our nation and the inevitable cost to taxpayers. The figures quoted within the body of these findings were very conservative, even to a fault, according to some individuals.

The study's purpose was to provide credible evidence that marriage is economically healthy to our nation while divorce and unwed childbearing create a strain on our nation's finances.

The researchers of this study estimate that "family fragmentation costs U.S. taxpayers at least $112 billion each and every year, or more than $1 trillion each decade."  These cost figures are derived from "increased taxpayer expenditures for antipoverty, criminal justice, and educational programs," and decreased levels of taxes received from individuals, who are earning less due to reduced opportunities."

This $112 billion figure includes expenditures on federal, state, and local levels.  So, whose responsibility is it to begin the process of correcting this financial strain on our pocketbooks?  The answer, it is everybody's responsibility.  All three levels of government need to initiate programs designed to strengthen marriages rather than supporting their demise.

This Report acknowledges that even the slightest increase in stable marriage rates through these programs would result in very large savings for taxpayers.  "If the federal marriage initiative, for example, succeeds in reducing family fragmentation by just 1%, U.S. taxpayers will save an estimated $1.1 billion each and every year."  Even the slightest of endeavors to strengthen marriages in our nation would result in tremendous capital assets to taxpayers.

We have been experiencing the "social costs" of increased divorce and unmarried childbearing for decades.  These social costs include, but are not limited to, children who suffer from increased risks of poverty, mental illness, infant mortality, physical illness, juvenile delinquency and adult criminality, sexual abuse and other forms of family violence, economic hardship, substance abuse, and educational failure, such as increased risk of dropping out of school.1  These costs continue to increase as divorce and unmarried childbearing continue to rise.

It is time for us as a nation to initiate changes within local, state, and federal programs to strengthen marriages and begin turning the tide on the rising costs of the bottom line of divorce.  It is up to us, the taxpayers who are footing the bill, to call our legislators and public officials into account for initiating change within our government agencies to provide programs to strengthen marriage and enact laws that protect marriage for the good of our society.  The buck needs to stop right here and right now!

1W. Bradford Wilcox et al., Why Marriage Matters: 26 Conclusions from the Social Sciences, 2005)