It is a sobering statistic, but it has been forecast that nearly half of all marriages in the UK will end in divorce. Apart from the domestic trauma this implies, with issues of custody etc, it will also have a severe impact on incomes and consequently bankruptcy.

Divorce and couple separation are known to be central factors in the growth of personal debt. According to a recent report, no less than 28 per cent of bankruptcies arise from divorce or the break-up of established relationships.

And of course there is the irony that financial pressures and debt are among the central factors causing separations.

The best scenario if a relationship break up is inevitable is for a couple to sort out the final settlements and division of resources among themselves. If the couple do not have any children then this can be accomplished fairly easily, at least in theory.

However if children are involved, and the parties are incapable of coming to a voluntary arrangement, then the law gets involved.

And with the law comes cost.

The first serious debt a divorce can bring is the cost of the proceedings themselves. It has been calculated that the average cost of a divorce in the UK is about £14,000. The precise figure of course depends on the level of complexity involved. However few are likely to go through the procedure without incurring severe expense and debt.

This is often overlooked because most of the focus on relationship breakup and divorce is concentrated on the settlement, not the costs of the actual process itself. These costs start mounting as soon as you engage a solicitor.

Of course a relationship break up is a very emotional situation and partners are often not concentrating on finance at such a time. It is quite common for partners to use loans to fund the divorce in order to get matters over with as fast as possible.