More and more divorce petitions are being filed in courts. In just nine months of this year, Poles filed nearly 62,000 of them. At the same time, the number of marriages is falling.
In the first three quarters of this year, nearly 62,000 divorce petitions were filed with district courts across Poland. This is 1.5 percent more than in the same period of 2023, when there were almost 61,000.
The largest number of divorce lawsuits were filed in courts in large cities. In the whole of Warsaw, a total of 5,800 divorces were recorded. In turn, in Poznań there were 3,900 divorce cases, and in Gdańsk 3,400 were filed.
However, the rise in Polish divorces also needs to be put in context. Data as of 2020 showed at the time that Poland has the lowest divorce rate in all of the EU per 100 marriages.
More divorces filed, fewer marriages concluded
According to Kamil Jura, a lawyer and mediator at the Nowy-Etap divorce law firm, the number of divorce petitions can be interpreted as a sign of the continuing high rate of divorces. Although the increase is not large, when combined with the fact that the number of marriages is falling, it may indicate significant changes in Poland’s social structure.
The expert also notes that the number of divorce filings does not necessarily translate into the number of divorces. Some people may still change their minds or attempt to repair their relationships. Only data on the number of divorces pronounced in a given year and in subsequent years will allow for a more accurate assessment of the actual increase.
Expert: The pandemic is still taking its toll
“The pandemic will continue to reap its toll on divorces for several years to come. The problems revealed during the lockdowns may have intensified as a result of financial, psychological and social stress. This means that some of the current divorces are the result of problems that have been building up for several years,” added attorney Kamil Jura.
Ewelina Gee-Milan, director of the Law Clinic at the Faculty of Law and Administration of Lazarski University in Warsaw, points out other effects of the growing number of divorce suits. The expert notes that the growing number of cases, which is not accompanied by an increase in the number of positions for family court judges, will translate into an extended waiting time for a hearing date.
“Despite the increased inflow of cases in courts, there are no more administrative workers or judicial assistants, which can ultimately also translate into waiting times. In the case of the latter, due to salaries, there is often a lack of people willing to take up the job, because they take on other jobs on the free market whenever possible,” said Ewelina Gee-Milan.
