With January traditionally being a peak month for matrimonial law enquiries and the Guy Ritchie and Madonna split shining a few festive spotlights on divorce, in the week before Christmas, Family lawyers from Ellisons conducted a seasonal mini-survey to see what the people of Colchester think about the current state of marriage and their views on some of the recent high media profile divorces.

The mini survey which had 81 respondents focused on four main issues;

The impact of Christmas on relationships;

Is there a touch of sexism in divorce?

Effects on divorce from the economic downturn;

The truth about cohabitation rights.


When asked whether Christmas can be a stressful time for relationships, the people of Colchester are in an optimistic mood with 65% seeing the season as positive; 15% perceived it had no effect on relationships and only 20% viewed it as an additionally stressful time.

People were also asked their views on the Guy Ritchie and Madonna divorce and whether they felt Guy Ritchie should seek a share of Madonna's wealth. The bulk of the questionnaires were completed at a time when it was reported that Guy Ritchie was to walk away with nothing. An astounding 85% thought that Guy Ritchie receiving nothing would be fair although there was a higher percentage of agreeing female respondents (91%) than male (77%). If the division of wealth was reversed, however, only 36% felt that Madonna would have had a justifiable claim on Ritchie's assets. Comments supporting the question suggest that in divorces with significant money on both sides, the division should reflect their independent wealth with a very strong sentiment, and that no matter how wealthy where children are involved, the party responsible for their care should be treated most favourably.

When asked whether people are more or less likely to divorce in the current economic climate, the results were fairly neutral with 33% believing it would make no difference. Less positive, however, was the contrast of 47% believing that the divorce rate is likely to increase and only 20% predicting it will reduce.

The final question looked at cohabitation rights. A worrying 37% of respondents believed that if you lived with someone long enough, you had the same rights as if you were married and a further 17% didn't know. From the Respondents who were cohabiting 47% thought they did have the same rights and a further 13% didn't know. Only 40% of cohabitants knew that there was no such thing as a 'common law spouse'. It was a worrying trend that those already cohabiting thought that they automatically had rights. They were certainly not aware of the option that cohabiting couples had the option to legally ensure that through cohabitation agreements, specially drafted wills and if house owners, a clear and documented agreement about how large a share they have in their home, they could protect their assets if they later unfortunately separated or if one of them died.

Lisa Anderson, one of the Family law specialists at Ellisons, who conducted the survey commented:
"We appreciate that this is only a snapshot of the general public's opinions and with more time and a greater sample, the research would be more robust but it has thrown up some quite interesting trends. We were delighted that on the whole the people of Colchester were positive about Christmas and yet understandably had concerns about the impact of the economic downturn on relationships. There is, as we expected, a subtle confirmation that men and women continue to think differently in terms of what is just in terms of divorce settlements but the most concerning theme must be without doubt, the results of the cohabitation question. There are quite simply too many people, particularly women, who naively continue to cohabit without legal advice in the belief that they have the same rights as a married spouse."

In recognition and thanks for the time respondents gave to completing the questionnaire, a donation is being made to Headway, Essex. This is the charity selected by Ellisons as its charity of the year 2008/9 to benefit from various fundraising initiatives.