Irritating habits behind more divorces than adultery

Everyday annoyances are a more common reason for divorce than official reasons cited in legal documents.

They account for ten per cent of divorce cases, according to JMW Solicitors, which handles more than 300 divorces per year, suggesting 13,000 marriages a year could be saved by changes in behaviour.

Many of the unwelcome habits reflect the internet playing a greater part in couples’ lives, with complaints surrounding use of online gambling, pornography and shopping.

But other halves were also accused of being condescending, using patronising nicknames or calling housekeeping allowances ‘pocket money’.

Other splits revealed how more ‘settled’ spouses let themselves go by abandoning personal hygiene or dressing badly.

Some even revealed dogs, cats or horses were put before their husband or wife.

More unusual was a refusal to allow a spouse to watch television channels with an odd number.

But Gianna Lisiecki-Cunane, a senior associate at JMW, said: ‘I was somewhat surprised to discover the true proportion of divorces which we handle that involve one bad habit or another,’ she said.

‘Access to the internet is so readily available that people can bet, watch porn or shop in what they believe is relative secrecy compared with a decade ago.

‘It can, of course, ultimately prove impossible to keep such misdemeanours completely under wraps and that’s often the point at which a marriage unravels.’

‘Unreasonable behaviour’ was the main ground in 54 per cent of divorces granted to wives in England and Wales last year, while adultery accounted for 13 per cent, according to the Office of National Statistics.

(dailymail.co.uk)