How is divorce seen culturally in the UK in 2025?

[NewHome2026]

Obviously the law changed in 2022 to mean you don’t have to give a reason for divorcing; there is no longer any need for one person to sue the other - couples can apply together to end the marriage, or one person can if preferred. You also no longer to be separated for 2 years before applying.

This was obviously really good news for people, for example, in abusive relationships, to enable them to severe connections more quickly so I’m not here to whether these changes are good or bad as I think they broadly are.

What I am interested in is do you think there has been an impact on how society sees divorce? Is there any stigma anymore or is it now totally stigma free? What about second or third divorces?

Is there a stigma around divorce? My parents divorced 30 years ago and it was completely normal back then!

Normal isn’t the same as unstigmatised though - just because divorced people aren’t shunned from social occasions anymore doesn’t mean that people might not have opinions on it…people judge plenty of things that is statistically normal

I’m fairly old and retired recently.

quite a few of my new friends who I have made in retirement are divorced and either single or remarried.

i’d definitely judge someone who’d been divorced multiple times as it shows a definite lack of judgement.

no-one really asks to be honest. often people who are on their own are widowed or have always been single and some people who are married it’s their second marriage on both sides after partners died.

but then I’m old.

I’m early 30s, went to a grammar school, and I can think of quite a few of my classmates who had single parents. It’s only now I think of it that I am working out just how many there were. Those children didn’t stand out more or less in class. My mum became a single parent when I was 14 also.

I should also that I don’t see the whole statistic of 1 in 4 marriages ending in divorce in real life….in my child’s class of 32 she is the only child from a divorced family - she is 8/9 - most parents in early 40s …I often wonder where all these divorced parents are as I don’t really know any 🤣
it’s a Catholic school - most have more than 2 children and I do wonder if that is part of it - there is still a cultural expectation that parents stick it out and divorce is a very last resort

I'll be honest I do judge a little bit. Maybe judge is the wrong word but I do think unless there was domestic abuse etc did anyone consider the DC? My parents divorced and I had a difficult childhood.

You didn't sue the other person - behaviour never had my impact on the outcome of divorce (unless proven financial abuse might affect financial split, or physical abuse might affect child arrangements, neither would affect the divorce itself).

Other than in the petition, the reason for the divorce is not recorded in any public record in England and Wales.

I wonder if you ever knew the reasons for your parents divorce.

It's very often said that staying together for the kids isn't the best outcome for them. Certainly wouldn't have been for my DC - living another 15 years with a mum being downtrodden and completely losing herself?

There were only two in my class, and one of them had lost their dad when killed in a car crash. The other child's mum dressed in a way that the Van Gogh painting The Potato Eaters reminded me of her.

Couldn’t care less, mine divorced when I was 18 months old which was a bit shameful in those days compared to other middle class kids with older parents but that was that. I’m divorced after a rather impressive error of judgement shall we call it & conducted my own divorce online a few months later.

The 2022 I don't think has made any difference to attitudes at all.

I wouldn't say that no one bats an eyelid- some (my mother) are weird about it and either refuse to name it, make odd comments (eg. Make a big deal over asking what my surname is now) or are just awkward. Some married men I have found are concerned that it could be catching 😆

Many divorces aren’t mutual though

personally whilst I think now having the no fault divorce is a good idea for many I think there should still be an option to say why you are divorcing for those that do want to declare a fault. As it stands no fault is the only option they give you now and I think it takes away from the fact that often one party was entirely at fault and that’s why the marriage failed

i really wish I could have had it recorded for time immemorial why my ex and I were divorcing

I’m always sad at a break-up. I’ve been divorced and it’s a sad thing. It’s just less sad than staying together in some circumstances. I don’t know if that’s judgemental. Tbh I never add my friend’s partners on social media because it’s too awkward if they split.

I think there is judgement from some people. I’m divorced. But mainly judgement from those staying together who perhaps aren’t that happy. I have heard the word broken home and trauma for the children. But I think there’s a whole lot more trauma in toxic relationships that carry on and on. My home isn’t broken it’s calm. The people I know who are on second marriages seem to be a whole lot happier than their first.

Divorces are just the main expected outcome of a marriage.

I judge the idea of marriage more than the idea of divorce.

Is it possible that some of the stigma that some people who have been divorced feel towards them is actually the tricky situation regarding friends who were friends with the couple and now feel they have to either decide between them or just back away entirely?

@OddBootsi think for some couples they think it’s catching - that if one of their group have taken the plunge, admitted they were unhappy and divorced then others will start looking at their own marriages

there is also a lot of weird suspicion and people think a newly single woman is automatically going to start to go after their friends husbands 🤣 so start to distance themselves

I think it depends where in the country you live.
The UK has a much higher divorce rate (and earlier marriage age) than Ireland, where divorce still carries a slight stigma as it’s not as commonplace for many and varied reasons.