Utah has eighth highest divorce rate in the nation, study finds

SALT LAKE CITY — A new study conducted by FormRush found that Utah has the eighth-highest divorce rate in the United States. The company examined data from each state when determining their ranking. 

Senator Todd Weiler, R-U (who is also a divorce attorney) told KSL NewsRadio he thinks a mix of factors causes divorce in the state. 

“It’s almost never one reason, but if I had to pick one I would say unrealistic expectations,” said Weiler. 

Weiler said he thinks a lot of Utah couples get married expecting to live out a “happily ever after.” 

“Two years later they have some debt, they have a crying baby, and that little spark … has kind of run out,” Weiler said. He called the so-called “happily ever after” an unrealistic expectation. 

Many couples enter marriage expecting bad habits, addictions, or abusive behavior to go away. While some of them work through those things, they may still later divorce for a different reason, Weiler said. 

Weiler also said that before getting married, couples skip some important discussions. They don’t speak too deeply about intimacy, finances, or children. 

According to Salcido Law Firm’s website, the average age for men to marry in Utah is 23. The average age for women is 21. 

Weiler doesn’t think there is a correlation between the Utah divorce rate and age.

“I’ve had clients in their 80s and I’ve had clients in their 20s … seen people married for three months get a divorce. I’ve seen people married for literally 6o years get a divorce. I’m sure there’s a median but I don’t have that data,” said Weiler. 

Divorcing in Utah

Insider reported that Utah is one of the easier states to get divorced in. The waiting period between filing and finalization is 30 days, and some couples can even get the waiting period waived, depending on the circumstance. 

The State of Utah has made it easy to file for divorce. Furthermore, Weiler said that about 80% of divorces in Utah are completed without an attorney on either side. 

“Nobody in Utah should be buying forms from [FormRush] … our court system has a wonderful website where you can just go in and put all your information [in] and it’ll spit out the forms for you,” said Weiler. 

Related reading: 

• Church reacts to Biden signing Respect for Marriage Act into law
• More Baby Boomers are living alone. One reason why: ‘gray divorce’
• Utah’s online marriage licensing gets attention all over the world