The chance of a first marriage ending in divorce is between 50% and 67%. The chance that a second marriage will end in divorce is about 10% higher than for the first marriage.
The reasons for divorce are many and varied but the biggest reason still is unbearable moaning (complaining) by one of both partners although it is not a reason cited in court – most courts would not grant a divorce on such grounds. The most common “legal” reason is irreconcilable differences.
Many people think the reason for the high percentage of divorce simply is because it is too easily granted. In some cultures, in olden times, you didn’t even need to go to a court to get a divorce. A Pueblo Indian woman divorced her husband simply by leaving his moccasins on the doorstep. Turkish bridegrooms were once required to include in their wedding vows that they will provide their new wives with coffee. If they failed, it was grounds for divorce. In Islamic law in some countries a husband can divorce by simple repudiation which may be documented at a later stage.
Some reasons for divorce are odd but reasonable. For instance, in 1949 Mrs Caroline Squires of Cincinnati filed for a divorce from her husband on grounds of desertion. She testified that he had stepped out for a beer on 4 July 1917 – and had never come back.
