With over 8,000 divorce petitions filed in the last two years, and more than 6,800 disposed of, attorneys-at-law have been put to the test. But, based on consultations with their clients, the attorneys are not blaming the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, their notes reveal that people had the time to learn who they really married, and realised that tying the knot was more like walking into bondage.

And contrary to public perception, the increase in work wasn’t greeted with excitement by the family-oriented lawyers, whose hearts broke when cases got messy and involved children. Two attorneys noted as well that, at their firms, petitions are mostly being filed by frustrated women.

“I, for one, have problems where I know the parties very well and they come to me about divorce. I seldom want to do it, especially when children or assets are involved. The children suffer because they are drawn in the entanglement and the brawl. I realise that a lot of people don’t understand the dynamics of having a marriage. They just feel like once they’re in hot waters with their partners they should quit. Jamaicans feel like they are too big to say sorry, and most times that is just the case,” attorney Michelle Thomas told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

“Parties were spending more time and they realise that, ‘Mi nuh really like that person.’ Work and obligations came between persons interacting, and so, when a person is not around you 24/7, you have a different view. But when COVID forced everyone to be locked inside and parties started to socialise more, they realised that the person they married is not the person they ideally like. Some marriages got stronger and some marriages ended,” Thomas added.

“I think, as a society, we have to restructure how we do counselling and how we treat marriages. People are just treating marriages as casual. People are in and out of marriages. We have lost the true meaning of marriage. With the sanctity of the union, a lot of people have missed the mark.”

There was a noticeable decrease in petitions for divorce as the numbers fell from 3,934 in 2019 to 3,689 in 2020. However, 2021 saw a jump with 4,381 divorces filed – an 18.7 per cent increase.

In total, 2020 and 2021 recorded 8,070 divorce petitions. And the Court Administration Division (CAD) revealed that just four months into 2021 more than 1,200 divorce applications had already been filed.

“I do a lot of divorces at my practice and most of them are for women,” Thomas revealed. “Most times when you ask them what is the reason, most of the issues can be reconciled, but parties don’t believe in counselling. This is something that I realise in Jamaica. There’s a stigma towards counselling. They don’t feel that if the marriage is in turmoil, both parties can go to a counsellor and discuss their issues and see if they can resolve them.”

In January this year, the recorded statistical report on divorces from the chief justice revealed that the number of petitions for dissolution of marriage, which were filed in the Easter Term of 2021 at the Kingston and western Supreme Court regional registries combined, increased by 50.97 per cent when compared to the Easter Term of 2020.

Moreover, the Statistical Institute of Jamaica has underscored a downward trend in marriages, while divorces increase.

There have been 20,484 divorces from 2015 to 2021.

Queen’s Counsel Caroline Hay told the Sunday Observer that there was a deliberate effort to clear up divorce cases in the downtime caused by COVID-19.

“I think the numbers are in incident of COVID because it shut down a lot of court appearances and created a lot of time as a lot of judges were working from home. A lot of desk time was created by COVID, which meant that an opportunity was taken to clear backlog. Plus, this chief justice has been on a declared war path to modernise the registry. The registry of the Supreme Court has several divisions; the family division was one. Family was notoriously disorganised,” she said.

Hay said, previously, people couldn’t get a divorce completed on paper. Court appearances were necessary for individuals to give evidence.

The rules were changed, she said, and petitioners can now make an application to dispense with a hearing.

“What that was supposed to do was speed up the pace at which the matter would get concluded. But because the registry was so highly disorganised, everybody applied to dispense with a hearing, but the systems that were required to be in place to deal with the volume never kept up with it. So the cases just backed up.”

Hay added that, with over two decades of practice, she has noticed that divorces are generally the result of couples not getting the intervention long before the problem becomes intractable and not being prepared or able to make changes.

“In my view, any couple can live together if they want, even if abuse is involved. It is if both of them are prepared to live together. It is where one party is not prepared to live with the behaviour or actions of the other party or when they mutually offend each other that it doesn’t work,” she said.

Attorney Alexander Shaw said the statistics reflect the fact that people have been at home with more time to have one-on-one contact with themselves.

“Many persons have been at home. Some of them were still married, but separated. So they would’ve taken steps to pretty much get their lives on track. That would mean filing for divorce. You have to bear in mind that you have to be separated for at least one year. For argument’s sake, a person whose relationship went downhill during COVID-19, around March 2020 thereabout, would’ve had to wait until March 2021 before they could file divorce proceedings,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“Generally speaking, the wives are the ones who usually reach out more for a divorce because what you find is that a man would leave the matrimonial home and start a relationship. But, most times, the women want security, and they are most likely to petition the court for a divorce. If they end a relationship and they are living with the man, they are going to want to remarry, and to remarry, you really have to get divorced,” he continued.

He reasoned that many people were trying to protect their estates as well.

“COVID-19 was a period for us to come to grips with the reality that life is short. And there are many persons who thought they would not have come out of this period alive so they were trying to get their house in order. One of the steps they would’ve taken was to get divorced so that the other party doesn’t benefit unjustly. A lot of persons also put together their wills in the COVID-19 period, fearing that the worse will come.”

The attorneys dispelled claims that those in the legal profession were on cloud nine due to the increase in divorces, which many suspected resulted in more cash flow.

Thomas said lawyers are never pleased when these matters come to their attention.

“An attorney is never happy because we’re duty-bound when a client comes before us to ask certain questions. For example, if it is that they have not separated for an entire year, they should not and must not get a difference. The separation must be for a year. So, if you and your partner get in hot water this month and next month you run to the lawyer to get a divorce, the lawyer is duty-bound to state that you will have to wait an entire year.”

Hay said she understands why people would think so as a “human response”.

“I would imagine that the same accusation would hit the doctors and to some extent, with some cynicism, the priest. Whenever people’s profession services needs, there is this belief that it should be free. And so, if you are in need and in a desperate situation and you approach the lawyer and the lawyer says, ‘Put a $150,000 in my hand or I’m not going to court,’ there is a sort of disgust or dismay. This is at the fact that the lawyer has insisted upon his fee to earn from what you consider your crisis.

“Usually, the client that returns with the business returns because of trust and confidence. It is a relationship of trust and confidence. They tell you in the studies that each client in a well-serviced relationship will bring an average of 2.5 matters to you in the course of your practice. They may bring their property, their will, or they may want to form a company and want to do contracts. It is a relationship, and you will find a lot of empathy on the part of the attorney,” Hay said.

Shaw noted that one of the primary considerations of an attorney is whether the couple has children. And depending on how they describe the situation, he will advise them whether they need a divorce or just counselling.

“If certain issues are present in the marriage, to include domestic abuse, on that basis I will tell them I think they need to get a divorce. When children are involved, especially young children, I’m not too eager to tell a couple go and get divorced because I know that can have implications on the children,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“While the practice of law is a business, I still have to bear in mind that I am dealing with people and the advice that I give will affect their lives in some shape or form. I am married and I have a child, so I don’t like to see when families are separated. Just say go and get divorced just because I want the money would not be good.”

Queen’s Counsel Peter Champagnie chimed in, saying: “There may be instances where that view has currency. However, there are two factors always to bear in mind. There are the canons of the legal profession, and these are certain precepts which dictate our conduct as attorneys of law. One of them obliges an attorney, in whatever field of practice, to not stir up strife between his or her client and another. The objective, in terms of that precept, is for attorneys to encourage, where possible, an amicable resolution to a matter that is capable of being resolved without going to court.”