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Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】. Hi, 安澜.
Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone. So, Lulu, what do you want to talk about today?
Tell you what, let's talk about divorce.
That's a very cheery happy subject.
It's a pragmatic subject.
I guess so.
We talked about marriage before, if you remember.
We did touch a little bit on divorce, but I don’t think we went into too much detail.
I think we're mostly focused on sort of like the happy wedding, newly weds and all that.
Well, I focused on that because I'm generally a happier person than you are.
Yeah. But let's talk about divorce nonetheless.
Okay.
I think divorce rate is extremely high in the UK, if I remember correctly.
It’s high, but it's actually at its lowest level since 1971.
Divorce rate?
The divorce rate.
In the UK.
But it's still quite high, 32% of marriages in the UK end in divorce.
32%, that's actually lower than I expected, to be honest.
How much is it in China? I can't remember.
You got me there. Actually, I don't know, but I think bits and pieces I've read it seems that the divorce rate in China now is higher than the UK, that's a depressing thought.
Yeah. I've seen different figures for China and I've also seen different figures for the UK, but it seems to be around the 32% mark that seems to be the most common.
Have you ever thought about the possibility of it dropping, like percentage-wise? It's just because fewer people get married nowadays.
Probably yeah, I think that does have a really strong impact, there's so many couples that are common in law.
Like common law marriage?
Yeah.
Civil partnership.
Not civil partnerships. That's slightly different.
OK, so common law就是事实婚姻那个概念, 对吧?
Yeah.
So, you live together, you just don't get that certificate.
That’s it. That's pretty much it.
For those of you who don't remember the marriage episode we did before. So, in the UK it is completely legal. I don't mean it that way, but like for two people to live together, they will have like the complete legal status as a married couple.
Pretty much.
I don't know the details of the law, but it's like, for example, for how long and how you are known to the neighbors.
It's also mostly around assets. So, if, for example, they break up who gets what assets.
You still have to divide the assets? 即使是这种同居的男女朋友, 只要是common law married, 他们之后分手的时候还是要分财产的. Exactly the same as a married couple.
Pretty much.
That's why some of my friends or friend’s friends in the UK, they've been together for decades. They just don't want that piece of paper.
No, and in the UK, there's no stigma for not getting married. It's just very, very common.
It's a personal choice.