Divorce lawyers are expecting their busiest day of the year today as the pressure of Christmas and the New Year holidays finally blows rocky marriages apart.
Unhappy partners commonly cite infidelity, abuse, boredom and lack of sex as grounds for a split.
And over Christmas - the peak time for cheating - a fling at the office party could provide prime grounds for separation.
Throw in family rows, financial worries, and disappointing presents, and the boom in New Year divorce proceedings means those in the marital profession are now branding today D-Day, or Divorce Day.
InsideDivorce.com, an online advice service, surveyed 100 British law firms, and 2,000 people who were either married, divorced or separated.
It found that almost one in five of all marriages was on shaky ground, with partners believing it could end in divorce.
Almost half of those surveyed said their sex lives had fallen flat, while one in 10 marriages was entirely sexless.
Suzanne Kingston, a family lawyer, said men or women often went to see a solicitor without their partner's knowledge, to try to find out about their options.
The "vast majority" of people who see a solicitor end up proceeding with a divorce at some stage," she said.
"Over Christmas people are spending longer periods of time together. There's more opportunity to argue.
"There is also the financial worry and the impact of relatives.
"And at New Year people often make resolutions and think about what they want for the future."
About two in every five people blamed a partner's affair for them contacting a lawyer, with almost half of all women citing infidelity as the main reason for marriage breakdown.
Fifty-four per cent of those said they discovered the affair themselves, one fifth of unfaithful spouses confessed, and four per cent were told by their partner's new lover.
The five major reasons given for divorce were:
• Infidelity 42 per cent
• Abuse 34 per cent
• Boredom 29 per cent
• Lack of sex 22 per cent
• Money 22 per cent
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...e-lawyers.html