June 14, 2008
Hot New Brooklyn Trend: Divorce!
Not everything in Brooklyn is coming up strollers and Babelands, the Brooklyn Paper is reporting that the divorce rate in the borough has skyrocketed! Reports show that there's been a 30% rise since 2003, with uncontested divorces totaling 7,035 (nearly 2,000 more since 2004) and contested divorces up 5%. First Tea Lounge, and now this!
With the Brooklyn population only up 2% in ten years, the paper theorizes on why couples are splitting up; the economy and the sad, simple reality of "falling out of love" are on the top of the list. The supervising judge for matrimonial matters in Kings County, Jeffrey Sunshine, has a good point however, stating that "Couples can file uncontested divorces in any county, so if there’s a backlog in Manhattan or Queens, many may choose Brooklyn." He also credits the borough's system as being the most user-friendly.
While the system may be user-friendly, not all divorces are amicable. Notably, Borough Park couple Simon and Chana Taub built a wall in the middle of their house during their dispute. And in 2005, writer-director Noah Baumbach showed the pains of a 1980s Park Slope divorce in The Squid and the Whale.
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Squid & The Whale was set in the 1980s.
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Have you heard the latest? Divorce is totally IN this summer!
Thanks Jen Carlson!
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why do people still feel the need to get married? so lame.
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divorce IN, religion OUT. who says things aren't getting better
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I'm not surprised, especially with the influx of investment banking/hedge fund pricks moving into Brooklyn.
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So basically it's either too much money (guys can have whatever or "whoever" they want) or not enough money (she can't show off to her friends) which result in divorces.
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unfortunately, due to unintended consequences of our laws in the city and state, a lot of couples who have kids get divorced so the wife can claim gov't benefits as a single low income parent. you hear about this all the time now unfortunately.