Overview
- Official court figures show Galicia recorded 1,113 demands for separation, divorce or annulment in the first quarter of 2026, a 14.5% fall from 1,302 in Q1 2025.
- The court data exclude notarial divorces that couples can file outside courts, so part of the apparent drop may reflect cases routed to notaries and later reported to the national statistics office.
- Some local districts buck the regional trend: Pontevedra logged a 27.3% rise to 56 rupture demands and Ourense reported a 13.5% increase to 151 cases in Q1 2026.
- Family lawyers say steep housing costs are causing more couples to separate informally or continue living together to afford one home, reducing formal court filings for divorce.
- Practitioners also point to the Ley Orgánica 1/2025 judicial reorganization and a long-term decline in marriages as additional reasons the court numbers may not reflect fewer breakups overall, and modification petitions for custody and maintenance fell sharply in Q1.