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The recent recession has, it seems, not only influenced bank accounts, business and interest rates, but has also had a significant effect on people’s home lives too. It could be argued that this statement is somewhat redundant; there is no denying that increased pressure can cause tension between couples, but could the implications of financial hardship result in unhappy couples postponing divorce for the sake of relative affluence? Recent findings suggest that they would, with the emergence of a new group; ‘the semi-married’. Recently coined by historian Pamela Haag, ‘the semi-married’ couple are a husband and wife who want to divorce but stay together or remain within the same property for financial reasons. This is nothing new, of course, many couples still reside in the same property following them having separated. We at Quickie Divorce are fully aware that couples can live separate lives whilst cohabiting and have helped couples in his situation on numerous occasions. The UK’s slow recovery from financial peril, coupled with a stagnant housing market have, however, resulted in a significant growth in the number of individuals that chose to live with their partner even after they have concluded that their marriages have irretrievably broken down. The housing market is arguably the main factor influencing such decisions. Negative equity and lender’s reluctance to provide consumers with cheap borrowing present less affluent would be divorcees with almost insurmountable hurdles. In such marriages, the matrimonial home is nearly always the couple’s primary asset and the most common means of splitting this attribute fairly is for one individual to buy the other out by re-mortgaging the property. The fact that it is becoming extremely difficult to obtain cheap credit has left many couples concluding that divorce is not a practicable option and that cohabitation is the only feasible route available to them for the time being. Whether or not couples craving a quick divorce and fresh start can successfully cohabit is another matter, however, and for every individual that successfully traverses the change from spouse to housemate, there is another that inevitably slips of the proverbial precipice and becomes severely unhappy. What couples must conclude is whether or not they genuinely can remain in the same household even when divorce is, or has recently been, at the very forefront of their minds. If they conclude that that can remain patient then that is all well and good, but for those that cannot tolerate the prospect of residing with and individual that they once loved then they would do well to pay heed to the old adage ‘money isn’t everything’.