Government publishes 'divorce hot spots'

The Ministry of Justice has published a list detailing the areas of England with the highest number of court applications for divorce between October 2011 and September 2012.

The list shows that almost 3,000 couples filed for divorce at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre and Family Courts last year. This was followed by Weston-super-Mare County Court with almost 2,500 couples and Leicester County Court with over 1,800. These figures were the highest for any part of the country, outside of Greater London.

The statistics have been published to reinforce the government's campaign to encourage more couples to

The courts where the most divorce petitions were applied for in the past year were: