Recovery from divorce: Comparing high and low income couples

Abstract:

This article shows that divorce in the UK has different consequences for high and for low income households, and for men and for women. The opportunity to mitigate these consequences and to recover also differs across groups. Women in the highest income households before divorce suffer the largest and most persistent falls in their standard of living compared to those from the lowest income households, who recover quickly. Men increase their standard of living on divorce: low income men recover the most and recover fastest, partly driven by returning to live with their extended families. Across the income distribution, there is no evidence that women are more likely to remain in the marital home than men after divorce, with the majority of men and women moving house on divorce.