January is Divorce Month!

Don’t freak out, but January is sometimes called “Divorce Month,” because it’s when divorce lawyers see a big uptick in clients.  There’s about a 25% spike in the number of people looking for divorce advice this month, possibly because they were waiting to get through the holidays.

That doesn’t mean they necessarily file for divorce now, though.  A lot of people just put feelers out, and wait until the spring to file.

With that in mind, here are three red flags you might want to be aware of . . .

1.  Their spending habits change.  Lawyers do something called a “spousal support analysis” to figure out alimony.  Especially if one person brings in most of the money.

If their client needs support, they might tell them to go out and shop more, so it’ll look like that’s the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to.  Or if their client wants to avoid paying alimony, they might tell them to stop spending so much.

2.  Makeovers, or suddenly hitting the gym a lot more.  It can be a sign of infidelity, or getting ready to jump back into the dating pool.

But be careful with that one, because it might just be a New Year’s resolution thing.  Only be suspicious if there are other red flags, like lying or a lot of late nights at work.

3.  They’ve stopped nagging you.  If they used to do it a lot but stopped, it might be a sign they’ve started to give up on the relationship.