Breaking up is never easy – or is it? Why Gen Z are swiping right on divorce
I have (somewhat terrifyingly) learnt that, in my late twenties, I am apparently a “senior most” member of Gen Z – which, according to a recent New York Times article, means I am “old enough to have gotten married, but also old enough to regret it”. As my generation enters its divorce era, it’s clear that the decision to end a marriage no longer has the same stigma attached to it as it did for Baby Boomers, Gen X and Millennials. Rather than being viewed as some sort of shameful, personal failure, Gen Z are choosing to view divorce as something which can empower you. The rising popularity of “divorce cakes” and “divorce rings” (refashioned engagement rings, as worn by Emily Ratajkowski) are emblematic of Gen Z’s tendency to celebrate the new chapter in life that divorce brings, rather than mourning the end of the relationship. As the NYT article notes, “in 2025, splits often feel less like scandals and more like rebrands.”
There is a strong sense for Gen Z that if a relationship isn’t serving you, rather than ‘sticking it out’ because you made a vow, you should leave. But how easy is it to actually just walk away from a marriage?
Gen Z notoriously want everything now, and it’s no different when it comes to their divorces. Growing up with social media means this is a generation used to instant gratification – but, unfortunately, posting a picture of your new “divorce ring” online is quite different from actually getting legally divorced. In England and Wales, it takes at least 7 months to get divorced because there is a mandatory waiting period of 20 weeks between making the initial application and being able to progress to the next stage (called the Conditional Order) – after that, you still have to wait another 6 weeks and 1 day before you can finalise the divorce. In many cases, getting “divorced” takes significantly longer than this because the parties also need to sort out the financial arrangements (whether through negotiations or a Court process, the latter of which almost always extends the process even further).
Nevertheless, hope remains for Gen Z and its desire to prioritise what the NYT article calls “fast, efficient divorces”. There are a number of reasons why a Gen Z divorce might be ‘easier’, both emotionally and financially, than for generations past:
- With “emotional well-being” being increasingly cited as the reason for the breakdown in a marriage – rather than infidelity, as is more commonly the case for older couples – both parties in a Gen Z relationship are more easily able to view the divorce as a transition in their relationship, for which neither of them are to blame. The introduction of “no fault” divorce in England and Wales in 2022 has no doubt also helped in reframing people’s views. A more amicable separation bodes well for parties being able to reach an agreement about their finances, rather than having protracted and acrimonious negotiations or Court proceedings.
- There will often be less assets (and/or less valuable assets) to be split and, consequently, it may be more straightforward for the parties to reach a composite agreement about their finances outside of a Court process. As the NYT article notes, whilst there may be more student debt and complex digital currencies to contend with, divorcing young also inevitably means there will be fewer matrimonial assets to divide.
- With an increasing number of Gen Z adults choosing to have pets instead of children, it’s likely that matters won’t be complicated by having to deal with the needs of minor children (which, in England and Wales, is always the paramount consideration for the Court) or indeed arrangements for contact with the children. If there are no children, it is also more likely that both parties will have continued working throughout the marriage and so it might be appropriate for there to be a ‘clean break’, without the need for one party to pay spousal maintenance to the other in order to help them adjust to financial independence (which is much more likely to happen after a long marriage of multiple decades, especially where one of the parties has given up work to be a stay-at-home parent).
Just because divorce might be easier for Gen Z, that doesn’t mean they take it less seriously (which is often the assumption of older generations). The NYT article suggests that, even if Gen Z no longer feel ashamed of their divorces, they still understand that it’s a “huge, huge deal to go through”. It may just be that my generation feel more prepared to end a marriage because they don’t want to stick it out in a relationship which no longer makes them, or the other person, happy – and perhaps that’s no bad thing.
Related reading
The senior-most members of Gen Z are in their late 20s: old enough to have gotten married, but also old enough to regret it.
