Divorce settlements and the credit crunch: The US perspective

Following a piece last week on the effect of the credit crunch on divorce settlements in the UK, I found a report in the New Statesman on the impact that is being felt in the USA.

The story quotes a court official from Miami-Dade County who states that divorces are down 18 per cent on the same period as last year; a figure which is apparently reflected elsewhere. According to a magistrate from the county, the cause is that there is not "much point in forcing a sale and splitting the negative equity."

However in New York divorces are higher than at any time since 1980. and the report cites a story of a financial trader whose fortune has declined from $20m to $8m. He claims he has been forced to borrow heavily to keep up with his wife's spending or risk divorce once she found out that he is worth much less.