According to a survey conducted by Gallup, data reveals millennials are in no rush to tie the knot. In fact, millennials have broken the previous demographic patterns of Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Traditionalists and currently hold the highest percentage of people listed as currently single/never married (59%) for their age group (18-36). Previously, only 16% of Generation Xers in that age group were single/never married and an even smaller amount of Baby Boomers listed single/never married at 10%.
Despite this information, Millennials still want to get married. In a survey where 2,048 adults were interviewed regarding their attitudes toward marriage, 26% said they just hadn’t met the right person, 22% said they were either too young or not ready and another 15% said they had not married for financial reasons. Perhaps the shift in the percentage of millennials getting married comes with the decline of Americans’ views of the importance of being married when two people want to spend their lives together or have a child. Resulting in millennials who express interest in getting married to their life partner, but do not feel getting married is a requirement of commitment.
What Could This Mean for Family Law?
If the trend on the importance of marriage continues to weaken, perhaps legislation and regulations will require revision. Currently, parents who live together but have chosen not to marry struggle with proving paternity, or making sure their children qualify for health insurance and other governmental benefits. In addition to those struggles, unmarried couples who choose to split up face further challenges establishing visitation and custody rights. These shifts in millennial lifestyle choices could provide challenging for many industries surrounding marriage.
If you are an unmarried couple struggling to manage child visitation rights or if you are a father fighting for joint custody of your child, our Chesterfield family law attorney could help you.
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