When you got married, you probably thought it was for life. That’s always the idealistic view that people take into marriage, and, for some people, it comes true.
However, reports indicate that most people stay married for a much shorter time. The average length of a marriage in Canada does break the decade mark, but not by much. It clocks in at 13.7 years.
So, for every marriage that lasts for 50 or 60 years, there are clearly a number of marriages that last just five or 10 years, dragging the average down.
If that stat alone doesn’t tell you enough about how a marriage is likely to go, just consider the popularity of the prenuptial agreement. A prenup is a tool that people use not only to plan for the marriage to fail — as it is often depicted — but to plan for what will happen in 13.7 years. In many situations, they just realistically know that the marriage could fall apart, and they want to be ready.
There are a lot of factors to take into account. In some cases, people don’t even want to use prenups, but family members advise it. That was the case for one young couple, for example, because the bride’s parents wanted to make sure that the family business, which was a few generations old, would be safe.
Prenups certainly aren’t for everyone, and that’s fine. However, if you’re thinking about using them or if you’re moving toward divorce, we encourage you to come talk to us or visit our website. We can offer a lot of important information and insights to help you through this process.