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Guilt, shame and regret are all common emotional responses to a divorce. Whilst common convention informs us that each is a negative response to divorce, however, only some will have a negative impact upon the process of legally ending a marriage, with researchers at the University of Ghent having concluded that feelings of guilt are actually more likely to bring about an amicable and uncontested divorce. The study reviewed the divorces of 457 couples with the median age of 43.5 and whose marriages had lasted for an average of 15.5 years. Most of the respondents had children and were well educated. Researchers found that the guiltier a spouse felt about their divorce, the more likely they were to accommodate the other’s requests. They also found that guilty spouses were more likely to engage in reasonable negotiation and refrain from attempting to force their spouse to agree to an unfair settlement. Whilst the study’s author claimed that regret had little effect on the divorce process, spouses who are ashamed of their divorces were more likely to be uncooperative and to try and force their partner into an unfair agreement. Although a spouse’s feelings of guilt can lead them to be more cooperative throughout the divorce process, the study’s authors warn that guilty spouses must balance their need to rectify their feelings of guilt with their need to obtain a fair divorce settlement with the study’s authors claiming that an insufficient settlement will more than likely result in the spouse needing to enlist further litigation in the future.