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Divorce trends in Scotland
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Scott Cochrane
Partner Brodies LLP
The Scottish Government recently released their
Civil Justice Statistics for Scotland 2015/16. What insights do they give us into what happens when modern families break up?
What orders are people seeking from the courts?
Of the family cases initiated in 2015/16 divorce or dissolution was the primary remedy sought in 77% of cases with parental responsibilities and rights (usually residence or contact actions) accounting for 17% of the cases and the remaining 5% of family cases being accounted for under the heading of 'other'.
'Other' will include domestic violence remedies non-harassment orders adoption actions and cohabitant’s rights claims. The observant reader will have noticed that 1% of family cases remain unaccounted for. This is according to the statistics an anomaly due to rounding!
The researchers in compiling these statistics looked only at the principal remedy sought in any action.
At times people will ask for residence or contact orders as part of a divorce action. As divorce will be the primary remedy sought these applications for residence or contact will not have been picked up by the...
Read the full article here.
