Predicting Divorce: 15 Red Flags

Determining whether or not your marriage is headed for divorce is not an exact science, a Daily Beast article has identified 15 red flags of a marriage headed for the dustbin. On the bright side, the US divorce rate has leveled of and fallen to somewhere between 40 and 50 percent; that's not excellent but shows a positive trend.

Some of the findings make total sense, such as the likelihood that financial disagreements often sink marriages. The "State of Our Unions 2009" study from the University of Virginia's National Marriage Project found that couples who argue over money once a week are 30 percent more likely to call divorce attorneys in Chicago.

If you're parents got divorced, there's a 40 percent that you will, too; 91 percent if your parents remarried to other partners. Divorce Magazine publisher Dan Couvrette, quoted in the article, says witnessing our parents' divorce reinforces our "disposable" society's lack of commitment:

"In most people's minds, it's easier to get a new car than fix the one you've got."

Other divorce predictors include second marriages (90 percent more likely to end in divorce than first marriages) and families with twins or triplets.

But some other indicators are kind of surprising.

Couples living in "red" (conservative) states are 27 percent more likely to get divorced than those living in "blue" (liberal) states; couples with a daughter are 5 percent more likely to get divorced than those with a son; and women with cervical cancer are 40 percent more likely to get divorced, compared to a 20 percent higher chance of divorce for men with testicular cancer.

These are just statistics and probabilities, so don't let it ruin a genuinely happy marriage. But whatever your reason for ending a marriage, it's usually a good idea to consult with an Illinois family law attorney.

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