Do Divorce Courts Favor Men or Women? Men & Women Disagree, Says FindLaw.com Survey

EAGAN, Minn. – Do divorce courts favor men or women?  Well, the answer depends on whom you ask.  A new survey from FindLaw.com, the most popular legal information website, says men and women have sharply different views on whether divorce courts tend to favor men or women.

The majority of American men (57 percent) believe that divorce courts generally favor women.  However, a nearly equal majority of women (58 percent) either have no opinion or believe that divorce courts generally favor neither men nor women. (In case you’re wondering, men and women do agree on one thing: less than five percent of both men and women think that divorce courts favor men.)

Opinions also differ significantly depending whether a person is single, married or divorced. A whopping 74 percent of divorced men feel that divorce courts favor women. That is a much higher percentage than among single or married men. Meanwhile, women who have gone through a divorce are more likely than single or married women to believe that divorce courts either treat men and women equally, or else favor men.

“Divorce court cases are often difficult and highly contentious,” said Stephanie Rahlfs, attorney-editor with FindLaw. “Given the personal, family and financial issues that are involved, it may not be surprising if one or both parties walk away from the proceedings less than satisfied with the results. And this may affect people’s attitudes and perceptions. The survey results suggest that after a divorce, a significant percentage of both men and women come away from the process with the belief that divorce courts somehow favor the other gender.”  

Free information can be found on the FindLaw Divorce section athttp://family.findlaw.com/divorce.html

The FindLaw.com survey was conducted using a demographically balanced survey of 1000 American adults and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent.

Note to editors: Full survey results and analysis are available upon request.

FindLaw
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