Different financial values may lead to divorce

Photo of attorney Melinda L. Singer

It’s often said that financial issues are one of the main reasons for divorce in the United States. Couples who experience a lot of financial stress are more likely to break up.

This can take a lot of forms, such as a couple simply not earning enough money to pay the bills and getting divorced because of the stress that puts on their life. But there are also many cases where the financial stress just comes from the individuals in the relationship holding different values. If these values relate to money, they may find themselves frequently at odds, and that can create the financial stress that ends the marriage.

You want to save, your spouse wants to spend

One way that this could happen is if your spouse is a spender who likes to use their money. They want to have fun, they want to buy things that you don’t even necessarily think they need and they’re not all that interested in saving. They see money as a tool to live the life that they want.

On the other hand, you may be a saver. You like the stability that you get from saving as much of your money as possible, and it stresses you out to constantly feel like your spouse is spending all of that money. You can imagine how both of you will feel that the other person is wrong and that they’re being how back in some way by the other person’s financial values.

If something like this does wind up leading to a divorce, the property division process could get fairly complicated or even contentious. Make sure that you are well aware of all of your legal options

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