Divorce Is Costly In Canada—And It’s Making People Miserable

Divorce is pay-to-play in Canada, and the high cost of ending a marriage in a climate of increasing economic uncertainty may be making more Canadians unhappier for longer. That’s the takeaway from a recent BMO survey that looked into how cost-of-living concerns are shaping our view of personal relationships.

For two in five Canadians, it’s not love but money that keeps them tied to partners, BMO’s Real Financial Progress Index reports.

In the survey, just under 40 percent of divorced or separated Canadians said it was the cost of separation and divorce that saw them stay in a relationship beyond its best-before date. A substantial number of those surveyed (30 percent) also claimed that money matters were mostly behind the timing of their eventual separation and divorce, with the high cost of getting divorced emerging as the most common financial concern, followed by the expense of living solo, inflation and job security.

Money and marriage

The survey underlines how profoundly money matters shape personal relationships—and how generations that are living through periods of increasing economic strain (when grocery and housing costs are skyrocketing) may naturally being paying greater attention to the state of their finances than the state of their hearts.

Money was also cited a source of relationship conflict, with almost half of those surveyed admitting they found navigating finances as a couple was harder than maintaining the emotional part of their bond. That same number said they view marriage as more of a financial commitment than a romantic one.

This practical view on love and marriage may be more pronounced among marriage-aged individuals, too. According to the survey, this perspective on the financial realities of love and marriage is highest among millennials and Gen Z—just over 30 percent of whom said that moving in with a partner is often as much about feelings as finances.