After the bliss of the holidays is over, a New Year's resolution that couples might be contemplating this new year is divorce.

Professionals who specialize in the dissolution of marriages and domestic partnerships say January usually ushers in a spike of inquiries about launching divorce proceedings. They say the divorce rate drops off dramatically from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day because couples want to get through the holidays before making a big change that often means selling property and setting up child custody arrangements.

The economy can be a double-edged sword when it comes to divorce, experts say. Disagreements over money often spark divorce, exacerbating any other relationship problems couples might be having, but tight times also can put a damper on the financial ability of couples to end their partnerships.

"It's like throwing gas on a fire," Stephen Grant, a longtime Santa Cruz, Calif., family law attorney, said about the strain financial struggles can add to already rocky relationships.

Attorneys, mediators and financial planners who deal with divorce don't anticipate the deepening national recession will have a significant impact on whether couples decide to stay together. However, job losses and upside-down mortgages might lead some to consider less costly ways to split up, like opting for a mediated divorce rather than one hashed out in court.

Elaine Kiernan, a certified divorce financial analyst in Santa Cruz, said her dissolution case load has risen roughly 20 percent this year over the past five years — mostly as a result of the economic downturn and changes in recent years to state law requiring domestic partners also seek a formal divorce when ending their relationships.

Kiernan is a member of the Novato, Calif.-based International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, which recently reported that more than 70 percent of attorneys surveyed by the organization indicated that January and February are their busiest months. Members of the organization matches couples with mental health experts, financial planners and legal aids to dissolve their unions amicably outside court.

In a weak economy, couples try even harder to minimize the expense of breaking up — sometimes opting to divide up a home and act as roommates — because they "don't realize the expense of having to support two households," Kiernan said.

"There are a lot of options if a couple is willing to work with each other," said Colleen Durcan, a manager for the Santa Cruz-based Divorce Helpline, which averages 100,000 divorce cases statewide every month.

Durcan said she expects the organization will see its typical January increase in divorce cases of around 30 percent, but said she did notice a slight decline in overall divorce cases in 2008.

"I think people are frightened with what divorce costs," she said.

The local experts say divorce involving lawyers could easily cost $10,000 per couple, especially if a really contentious case goes to court, which can cause costs to soar past $70,000. Mediation can cost $3,500 or less, and facilitators with the Superior Court's Family Court Services works with divorcing parents for free or reduced rates to minimize litigation.

Grant, a co-founder of the Santa Cruz County Trial Lawyers Association, acknowledged that more people of modest incomes are looking for less expensive ways to get divorced on their own.

But, he said, "Anyone who thinks the collaborative process is cheaper is fooling themselves." Grant said he is often hired to clean up the "aftermath" when couples who tried to work out problems in mediation end up in court.

"To have a successful mediation, you have two people willing to sit down together, be honest and above board — to work together for a common result," he said. "I find if people could do that, they wouldn't be getting divorced."