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In America, there is one divorce approximately every 36 seconds*. That's nearly 2,400 divorces per day, 16,800 divorces per week and 876,000 divorces a year. The average length of a marriage that ends in divorce is eight years. People wait an average of three years after a divorce to remarry.

The average divorce costs $25,000 in legal fees, and if you use a good law firm the costs can up to well over $100,000.

Researchers have found that typical marriages still have about a 50% chance of lasting.

The number of divorces change depending on state, income, age, and other demographical factors. Currently, the number of divorces for Baby Boomers has grown while divorces for individuals within the 25 – 39 age group has gone down according to Pew Research. While that may not seem like a high divorce rate, you can probably attest to the fact that at least half of your friends have gone through or are currently going through a divorce.

Divorce is the way that we legally end marriages in the United States. In most states, the process is called a “no-fault” divorce. This means that the parties will only claim that they can’t get along (irreconcilable differences) and there is no hope for them to work things out (irretrievably broken).

In a few states, there are “fault” divorces. Yet, you don’t necessarily have to prove the other person did something (like abandonment, infidelity, or cruelty). The state won’t force anyone to stay married. Even in “fault” states, there’s usually an option to just claim irreconcilable differences.

How property (real property such as a house or personal property such as a prized collection of Star Trek DVDs) gets divided up during a divorce can include several factors. This includes whether the couple lives in a state that is considered a “community property” state.

When a couple lives in a community property state, it is much more difficult to stop your prized possessions from going to your former spouse unless you can definitively show that you owned that item before you married. Of course, things aren’t always cut and dry when it comes to states that don’t use that concept. The court relies on other factors to try and be fair to both parties.

Debts and other liabilities will also be divided. In some states, it could be that you both split the marital debt (accounts that you both have or used regardless of whose name it was in) and keep your other separate debts (such as your student loans). It could be that you have three cars in your name and your former spouse has none. The court could order you to sign one over to your former spouse. If the car isn’t paid off, the court would order the car to be refinanced into the other person’s name.