You took a new job because you would be paid far more than you were at your previous position. You felt like this would create financial stability and help you provide for your family. If anything, you felt like this would make your marriage much stronger.
But now you’ve been at that job for a year, and you certainly feel like you and your spouse are drifting apart. You don’t have the same connection you did, and you’re starting to wonder if your marriage is ending. Maybe you’re heading for divorce. But why is this happening when you took the new job specifically for the financial security it would provide?
Too much time apart
The problem may be your daily commute. Your odds of getting divorced go up by 40% if you have to commute for more than 45 minutes.
In other words, you were correct in thinking that financial instability often leads to divorce. In this sense, taking the new job may have helped your marriage. But if the trade-off was an excessively long commute, it could still increase the odds that that marriage ends.
In fact, couples in this position often feel like they are “drifting apart.” Nothing happens specifically to break them up, but they just don’t have enough time together. For example, one spouse may end up doing the bulk of the childcare or taking care of the home because the other person has a long commute, and they could become resentful of this role. They no longer feel like they have a relationship with their spouse, but like they are like roommates who are just unequally taking care of the kids.
If you do end up getting divorced, it’s quite important to know about all of your legal options when dividing your financial assets and splitting up time with the children.
