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Millennials in no rush down the aisle

Hannah RyanAAP
Millennials are in less of a hurry to marry and have kids, research shows.
Camera IconMillennials are in less of a hurry to marry and have kids, research shows. Credit: AAP

Australians want to meet their life partner at 31, get married at 33 and have kids at 34, according to numbers collected by dating website eharmony.

The numbers suggest Aussies see their 20s as a time for adventure and flings, leaving such serious matters as engagement, buying a property and walking down the aisle till the next decade.

Nearly half - 45 per cent - of the more than 2000 Australians surveyed by eharmony believe marriage is less important than it was for previous generations.

Millennials are also in less of a hurry to have kids. The average age they say they want to start a family is 37.

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They also think 36 is the ideal age to marry - three years later than the average suggestion of 33.

But their mums and dads might be getting impatient with them, as baby boomers believe 30 is the ideal age to get married, with kids following the next year.

On average, Australians want to enter their first serious relationship at 27, meet 'the one' at 31 and have kids at 34.

Men are slightly happier to wait to marry: women are keen to tie the knot by 32 on average, while men nominate 35 as their deadline.

While some 43 per cent of people still think children should come after marriage, only eight per cent want to wait until they sign on the dotted line to have sex.

Perhaps for obvious reasons, eharmony's survey did not ask respondents to nominate the ideal age for a divorce.

But the number of divorces in 2019 fell just shy of half of the number of new marriages, 49,116 and 113,815 respectively, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Two Melbourne entrepreneurs say their DIY divorce platform will help those who fall foul of those statistics to navigate the complex and expensive family law system.

Split Easy helps couples negotiate and document their divorces, guiding them through a step-by-step process to figure out a reasonable division of assets. Then it generates the legal documents required to carry out the plan.

Split Easy CEO Nicholas Zoch says his own divorce that opened his eyes to how expensive the process can be.

"It's not uncommon for Australians to end up paying around $200,000 in legal fees while going through the court process when filing for divorce," he says.

Split Easy says its maximum cost is $2499.

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