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A website for married individuals seeking affairs has caused outrage by offering visitors to its site the opportunity to win a free divorce.

The site martialaffairs.co.uk launched its win a divorce competition earlier this week, and is offering dissatisfied spouses £1,800 towards their legal fees. The campaign, somewhat predictably, has been met with criticism by several institutions – such as the group Christian Voice – and members of the public, having been deemed to be crass, insensitive and immoral.

The purpose of this article is not to provide further coverage to either the dissenters or supporters of said contest, however – it is to consider whether or it, or other similar competitions and/or promotions could genuinely have a tangible effect on the UK or any other countries’ divorce rate and, following Quickie Divorce having provided its own opinion, hope that others will too by commenting below.

The first thing that we as a company would like to note is that, in our experience, at least, few spouses make the decision to become divorced in haste. Many couples will engage in trial separations that last for years, if not decades, before deciding that the time to end their marriage has arrived. Consider this, and it may seem reasonable to assume that, whatever carrot you may dangle in front of these individuals, neither party will be signing a divorce petition before they are absolutely ready.

That said, legal aid aside, we cannot recall a single incident where individuals considering a divorce have been presented with the opportunity to have all of their legal fees paid. Perhaps it is therefore also possible that the prospect of having their divorce paid for in full could well persuade them to take the plunge.

Whilst either of the above arguments could reasonably be put forward, though, one thing is certain: no individual that is happy in their marriage will decide to pursue a divorce under any circumstances, legal fees paid, or otherwise. Only individuals that have considered calling time on their marriages will find such a competition appealing and it is unlikely that either this, or any other divorce-related promotion will have a meaningful effect on the divorce rate as a result – but that’s just our opinion.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.