Solicitors at regional law firm Napthens are reporting an increase in the number of enquiries from separating couples as it approaches the traditional ‘divorce day.’

Monday, January 8 has been dubbed divorce day because of the number of enquiries solicitors receive, while divorce charities are also expecting large volumes of calls.

Helen Lucking, head of the Family & Divorce team at Napthens solicitors, reports that her department is seeing this trend reflected locally, and said the reasons for such an increase are largely due to the pressures of Christmas.

She explained: “Unfortunately pressure can be placed on a relationship when a couple is together for much longer periods of time than normal – in this case many people had 10 days or more on leave over the Christmas and New Year period.

“This is traditionally a time when families are together and can cause arguments. The police often report an increase in instances of domestic violence over the same period.

“We’ve already had a number of enquiries but Monday is certainly a key date in the region as people often wait until children are back at school to do something about their situation.

“In other scenarios, sometimes people simply don’t want to spoil Christmas and wait until New Year.

“In our experience this is a time when we do expect to see a spike in enquiries, similar to the period after the school summer holidays and once children return to school in September.”