Calling it quits
Is Divorce Day really a thing?

Every January, divorce lawyers across Canada ready themselves for a spike in calls from couples wishing to end their marriages, and law offices in Kawartha Lakes are no exception.
In fact, there’s often such an increased call volume the first working Monday of each year – dubbed Divorce Day in legal circles – that many law firms ramp up staffing to ensure they’re ready to manage the workload.
Jan. 6, was Divorce Day 2025.

Paul Riley, CEO of the Riley Divorce & Family Law Firm, spoke with Kawartha Lakes Weekly the Saturday before Divorce Day. Riley said that although his firm did not experience a significant increase of inquiries on Divorce Day in 2023 and 2024, there was “a steady increase” of calls during the holiday season from people seeking consultations.
This has meant he and his staff have been busy responding to phone calls and emails since returning to work Jan. 2.
“We do expect to have a (busy) day Monday, continuing to return calls and messages and booking in new clients for a consultation,” Riley said, adding, family law offices typically have heavier-than-normal workloads throughout January.
So, why is January such a hectic month for family lawyers, and why is the first working Monday of the year especially busy?
In his experience, Riley said the No. 1 reason is that couples have just come through the holiday season, where they spent more time together than usual. The holidays, he added, are often a stressful time for families already, and the financial strain that comes with Christmas can increase pressure.
“Now, for couples who are already not in a good place prior to the holidays, these additional holiday strains on the relationship can really become the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, causing the relationship to break down completely,” Riley said.
Another common trend Riley finds is that couples believe splitting in the new year will make things easier from a tax or accounting perspective.
“If they use Dec. 31 as their separation date, they feel they can make a clean break financially starting at the beginning of the new year,” he said.
For some couples, splitting in January symbolizes a fresh start.
“Many people use the new year as a time of reflection on the past year, and, looking back, some may feel like their relationship has been holding them back, and they need to release the relationship in order to live a fully fulfilled life and to carry out their personal dreams and goals,” Riley said.
Russell Alexander, senior partner at Russell Alexander Collaborative Family Lawyers and author of several books on divorce, has been practising divorce law in Kawartha Lakes for more than 25 years.
Alexander said he’s noticed the Divorce Day phenomenon for many years, but it was in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic when his firm started seeing a significant call increase on this day.
“Our data was showing that (during) the first week in January, our calls were jumping 68 per cent, so we started looking into some of the patterns,” he said.
Like Riley, Alexander cites holiday stress, couples spending extended time together and people wanting to start over in the new year as key reasons for Divorce Day – and January, in general – being so busy.
Other reasons Alexander attributes to the Divorce Day phenomenon include people not being able to connect with a lawyer during the last week of December and spouses wanting one last Christmas together with their children.
Alexander said his office always has extra staff on Divorce Day, and his firm was heading into Jan. 6 well prepared.
“We have 22 lawyers in our office, and we clear our schedules because we know it’s going to be busy, and we have extra staff help with the phones so we can process all the calls,” he said.
But not all divorce lawyers are noticing the Divorce Day trend.

While Alex McLeod of Wards Lawyers said there’s typically increased work for him around the holiday season, he added he hasn’t noticed a spike in calls specific to people looking to start divorce proceedings on the first business Monday of the year.
Most of these calls, he said, concern spouses not returning children on time or incidents regarding extended family.
“I always have a number of calls from existing clients when I return after the break,” said McLeod, who’s principal lawyer at the firm. “Clients have gone one to two weeks without contact, and there are usually an increased number of parenting issues over the Christmas-holiday period.”
However, like Riley and Alexander, McLeod said January is often a “resolution period” for people looking to start anew.
“It’s a fresh start and, I assume, that filters into their relationships,” he said. “Motivation to start over is likely at its highest, and the ‘new year, new me’ motto likely impacts marriages.”
For better, for worse
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