Marriage – whether traditional or a de facto relationship - is a big commitment. But is marriage forever?
There is no doubt that most committed couples want relationships to last forever. Their desire to make it work is strong, especially in the beginning.
But for one reason or another marriage may not be forever and I think that more people are coming to the realisation that they may end up having more than one serious partner in their lives.
In fact, independent research by Slater and Gordon family lawyers has found that one in five Australians feels this way.
More than 2000 people in married and de facto relationships were surveyed and of those, 20 per cent admitted that they went into their relationship not expecting their union to last forever.
It was still pleasing to see that the majority of Australian couples – 80 per cent – still have faith in the institution of marriage; most believe that when they say “I do” it means “til death do us part”.
But the fact is there are roughly 50,000 divorces granted in Australia each year.
It’s also interesting that the younger the respondents in the survey were, the more likely they were to think they would eventually separate from their partner.
Around one third or 32 per cent of those aged 25 to 34 said they went into a serious relationship not expecting it to last, but only 10 per cent of over 55s felt the same way.
This might reflect a changing landscape or it might just be that younger generations have a more pessimistic outlook.
Obviously the answer to that would require more in-depth, longitudinal research.
There was also slightly difference among state lines.
South Australians were the most optimistic about the long-term prospects of their relationships - with 83 per cent of respondents saying they made a commitment to their partner believing they would stay together forever.
The percentage of Queenslanders who believed their unions would last forever was 82 per cent. In Victoria 81 per cent of respondents expected their relationships to last, while 78 per cent of respondents from NSW were of the same view.
At 76 per cent, Western Australian couples were the least likely to believe their relationship was forever.
The key to a long lasting relationship, no suprises, is trust and mutual respect.
The contents of this blog post are considered accurate as at the date of publication. However the applicable laws may be subject to change, thereby affecting the accuracy of the article. The information contained in this blog post is of a general nature only and is not specific to anyone’s personal circumstances. Please seek legal advice before acting on any of the information contained in this post.
