The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands registered during the second quarter of 2020, on the dates in which the population remained confined due to the Covid-19 alert, the highest rate of marital breakdowns in the entire State, with 5.3 requests for dissolution of couples (consensual and non-consensual separations and divorces) per 10,000 inhabitants, according to data collected by the Statistics Service of the General Council of the Judiciary.
The staggered de-escalation in the administration of justice, the need to adopt security and hygiene measures in the courts and the persistence of the incidence of the pandemic have meant that the characteristics of the decrease in all indicators in that quarter are so different from any other previous period that it is impossible to draw conclusions from the data presented, and advise caution when taking year-on-year variations.
The data collected by the governing body of judges in the courts of the Canary Archipelago indicate that between April and June of this year, the processes opened due to marital breakdowns experienced a decrease of 29.9% compared to the same period of 2019.
In detail, last year 647 couple processes were recorded in the islands (20 non-consensual separations, 37 consensual, 647 non-consensual divorces and 741 consensual), while in the present year the figure was 1,012 (nine non-consensual separations, 14 consensual, 447 non-consensual divorces and 542 consensual).
In comparison with the national average, the reduction of marital litigation in the islands during the health alert was 12 points less than the national average, which was 42.1%.
By provinces, between April 1 and June 30, 2020 (the health alert began on March 15 and ended on June 21) in Las Palmas there were 257 non-consensual and 210 consensual divorces, six contentious and two non-contentious separations. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 285 consensual divorce petitions, 237 non-consensual divorce petitions, eight contentious separations and seven mutual agreement separations were initiated.
National data
Nationally, the total number of requests for marital dissolution - both separations and divorces - decreased by 42.1% compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to data from the Judicial Government report.
In the second quarter of 2020, year-on-year decreases of more than 40% were observed in all forms of marital dissolution. The 9,552 requests for consensual divorce are 41.8% less than those filed in the same quarter of 2019. The 6,264 requests for non-consensual divorce are 42.4%. With regard to requests for separation, the 446 requests for consensual separation represent 46.4% less than a year earlier and the 214 non-consensual requests, 41.7% less than those filed in the same period of 2019.
Finally, the number of annulment requests, 19 in total, has decreased by 20.8% compared to those filed in the second quarter of 2019.
Canary Islands, Murcia and Valencia Community, the territories with the most divorces
Relating the requests for marital dissolution of the total year with the population as of January 1, 2020, we see that the highest number of requests for dissolution per 10,000 inhabitants occurred in the Canary Islands, with 5.3. Together with Murcia, 54.2; the Valencian Community, 5; Catalonia, 4.9; Balearic Islands, 4.7; La Rioja, 4.6; Andalusia, 4.5; and Cantabria, 4.4, all of them exceed the national average, which is 4.3.
The lowest ones have occurred in Madrid, with 3.4 requests for marital dissolution per 10,000 inhabitants; Castilla y León, 3.7; Aragon and Galicia, 3.8; and Extremadura and the Basque Country, 3.9.
Procedures for modification of measures in separation and divorce proceedings and of custody, guardianship and alimony of non-marital children
Also all requests for modification of measures, both marital and non-marital, have experienced significant decreases compared to the second quarter of 2019.
Requests for modification of agreed measures, of which 1,846 have been filed, have been reduced by 41.9 percent, and requests for modification of non-agreed measures, 5,880, have done so by 37.6 percent compared to the same quarter of last year.
The modifications of measures of guardianship, custody and alimony of non-marital children agreed, 3,542, have had a year-on-year decrease of 34.2 percent, while the non-agreed, 4,387, have shown a decrease of 39.9 percent.
