Joint custody has overtaken “mum gets the kids” as Spain’s new divorce normal

In 2025, divorce rates in Spain have reached a new normal, with joint custody becoming the new standard in cases involving children. According to the National Statistics Institute, a total of 83,683 marital break-ups occurred in Spain, with 96.5% being divorces, 3.4% separations, and a mere 0.1% annulments. Uncontested divorces accounted for 80.5% of the cases, while only 19.5% went to court.

The legal route was taken in 59.3% of cases, 24.8% through a decree, and 15.9% via a notary's public deed. Same-sex divorces made up 2.7% of the total, while female couples accounted for 1,226 of the 83,683 divorces, compared to 995 male couples. Couples had typically been married for 16.2 years before divorcing, with 31.2% having been married for 20 years or more, and only 3.4% divorcing within the first two years of marriage.

Age at divorce has also been increasing, with men divorcing at an average age of 49.1 and women at 46.6, up from 46.7 and 44.2 in 2016. Most divorces involved no children or dependent adults, with 80.4% of opposite-sex divorces having both spouses being Spanish. Of the divorces that did involve children, joint custody was granted in 50.8% of cases, surpassing sole custody to the mother at 45.3%, leaving fathers with just 3.4%.

Child maintenance arrangements followed traditional patterns, with 53.7% of divorces involving child maintenance, 52.1% of the time fathers paying, and 44.1% shared costs. Compensatory maintenance was rarer, appearing in just 6.4% of divorces, with husbands covering it in 91.4% of those instances. Regional differences in divorce rates are significant, with Ceuta having the highest rate at 2.5 per 1,000 residents, while Extremadura and Castile and Leon had the lowest at 1.4 each.

Despite these differences, Spain's divorce rate appears to be stabilizing rather than rising dramatically.