Is it third time lucky, or is your first love your true love?

Statistics have shown that 50% of first marriages, 67% of second and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. So what can be the reasons for this progressive increase in divorce rates?

Tom Fisher, a solicitor specialising in Family Law at Jackson Lees,has dealt with family matters in this field for more than 25 years. He understands the complexities of family and comments:

One common theory is that a significant number may enter a second marriage on the rebound of the first. Often people do not allow sufficient time to recover from their first divorce, or get their priorities straight before taking their vows again. They may enter the next marriage for the wrong reasons. They are liable to repeat their mistakes making them susceptible to similar conflicts and another broken marriage follows.

There are some individuals in second or third marriages who consider divorce manageable and not necessarily a tragedy. They have handled it once so they can handle it again. They may even recognise the warning signs earlier than they did the first time round and are quicker to react, more determined to minimise the agony.

It is argued that the prime factor affecting the break up of second marriages is that there may be less glue holding the marriage together and in particular, children from previous marriages may be a factor.

The great majority of children born to married couples are born during their first marriage when their parents are up to 35 years old, most couples in a second marriage do not have common children to bind them together. Furthermore, parent child relationships can be a source of conflict in some marriages but overall children act as a stabilising factor in marriages and when children are absent the marriage is prone to be rocked by minor storms.

Marriage however, second time around, can be less complicated when both parties are widowed. When these marriages happen, often in later life, the new husband and wife can often find great comfort in their new ties of affection and companionship. Older and wiser, both parties are likely to be more mature and perhaps mellower than they were the first time round. With no exes to complicate the new marriage, fond memories of former partners can be shared and are likely to be largely non-threatening to the new partner.

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