Divorce rates in Toronto could be much higher than statistics show

January is popularly known as "divorce month" in Toronto, as the number of filings skyrockets once the holidays are over and all those novelty gifts have presumably served their purpose.

While StatsCan reports the divorce rate has decreased year over year – down 5.6 per cent in 2020, the last recorded year – one Toronto law firm claims the numbers are much higher than that.

"It's a misleading statistic," Ron Shulman, Managing Partner at Shulman & Partners tells blogTO, adding that separations and common-law breakups are not included in these overall stats.

In Toronto, Shulman says common-law breakups and marriage separations (where a couple lives apart but remain legally married) are increasing significantly, particularly among young people, as more millennials opt for common-law partnerships. This, however, is reinforced by StatsCan data that indicates 65 per cent of common law relationships across the country ended in separation.

"Common law separations are increasingly common and can be just as financially and emotionally complex as a divorce," Julia Fogarty, an associate at Shulman & Partners, points out. "These paint a very different picture as our society continues to evolve, leading to varied dissolution patterns compared to traditional marriages.”

Shulman points out that these types of dissolutions were rampant during the COVID pandemic and remain on the rise today.

One of the most common disagreements in Toronto, the attorney says, is deciding what to do with property purchased during marriage.

Many movies have conditioned us to believe that irreconcilable differences and infidelity are the leading causes for divorce, but life isn't some bad '90s thriller starring Michael Douglas. In Toronto, it's a bit more bleak.

"The highest cause of divorce is financial stress," Shulman says.

Incomes often aren't enough to support two separate households, especially in a city as expensive as Toronto, and selling the family home is no longer a quick and easy fix, he explains.

"The financial reality becomes so difficult that they simply cannot move out. So they are forced to continue living in the same house while separating, which is a very difficult thing to do, both emotionally and practically," he says.

Shulman reiterates that the marital home is the centre of almost all divorce disputes: whether it should be sold now or held onto in hopes the Toronto market rebounds.

Having worked in law since 2005, Shulman has witnessed enough divorce disputes to write his own courtroom drama, with battles ranging from the ordinary to the absurd. He recalls the time he spent a day in court with a couple arguing over who gets to keep the expensive set of Cutco knives, and another case featuring a couple arguing relentlessly over Persian rugs.

"It may sound entertaining to the reader, but I think it's very important to remember those are behaviours of a highly emotional person going through a very difficult time," Shulman says.