Long the antidote to the happily-ever-after fairytale, demographic research has never made a secret of Australia's high separation rate: For every three marriages, one will end in divorce – and nearly half of all divorces each year involve children.
New research now provides an unhappy post-mortem of the financial effects of divorce, with newly single women and mothers faring worst in divorce fallout.
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Manage your money and avoid divorce
Catherine Robson, founder of Affinity Private, gives her top tips to reduce stress in your marriage by better managing your money.
AMP.NATSEM's report, Divorce: For Richer, For Poorer, released on Tuesday, finds that the average divorced woman has assets valued at 90 per cent less than her married equivalent.
According to the report, newly divorced mothers spend 66.4 per cent of their household budget on basic necessity items, including groceries, clothing and utility bills. More than 20 per cent of them struggle to afford basic items such as school uniforms. Married mothers and fathers spend 54 per cent of their household budget on similar items.
The research, which uses Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data from 2001 to 2014, finds that while divorced fathers earn 26 per cent more than their married counterparts, divorced women earn 10 per cent less than married women.
With the financial pressure of being primary carers of children, divorced women are more likely to rush into work than their married counterparts, "taking the first available opportunity as opposed to the best opportunity available", suggested Paul Sainsbury, chief customer officer at AMP.
But while women fare worse financially than men overall, the picture – which does not factor singles and de factos into the comparisons – is not pretty for either party.
Mr Sainsbury said that while the average duration of a separation is 3½ years, financial stability in terms of home ownership and household income takes about another five years to reach, meaning that the immediate and knock-on costs of divorce can last close to a decade.
Divorced mothers and fathers' labour force prospects diverge around four years post-divorce. Graph: AMP NATSEM
Divorced parents aged between 45-64 years of age have 25 per cent less, in asset terms, than their married counterparts. Home ownership rates for divorced couples are 15 per cent less than that of married couples.
A married man has assets valued at 67 per cent higher than those of a comparable divorced man on average.
Divorced households earn substantially less than their married counterparts. Graph: AMP NATSEM
Divorcees' super balances take a hit, too, impacting long-term finances. Divorced mothers have an average 68 per cent less super than married mothers, while divorced fathers have 60 per cent less superannuation than married fathers five years after divorce.
"The circumstances of individual families are many and varied, it's very clear from this research that everyone is severely impacted," said Mr Sainsbury. "There are no winners in this from a financial point of view."
The knock-on effects reach well in the future, the report suggests, with family breakdown decreasing a child's chance of gaining a university qualification by six per cent.