Surely anything that helps ease the pain of divorce – both 
emotionally and financially – has to be good idea. Or is it?
The world’s first divorce fair is being held in Vienna this month as the divorce rate in Austria hit an all time high of 50% in 2006, with 66% of marriages in Vienna ending in divorce.
Forever optimistic, the two day fair is being plugged under the motto "new beginning", and takes place on 27 and 28 October, with Saturday reserved for men, and Sunday for women, so couples can avoid awkward encounters and retain a degree of anonymity.
It is focused entirely on practical issues, and exhibitors include not only lawyers and mediators, but also estate agents, life-crisis experts, private detective firms and DNA laboratories offering paternity tests. One company will offer therapeutic package holidays for newly divorced people.
There will also be a series of lectures on subjects like how divorce affects children and coping as a single parent.
Bizarrely, and tragically, the organiser used to hold wedding fairs, but has identified a gap in the market for those struggling with divorce and he hopes to hold these fairs twice a year.
Yes, I can see the benefits of helping sort out the practicalities when divorce is unavoidable. But it also seems too well planned an event, helping to make divorce more final when perhaps there is still hope for a reconciliation. Why not plug those therapeutic holidays as second honeymoons instead?
I imagine it would be a very sad experience to visit one of these fairs, having to face up to the inevitable. Being an eternal romantic, I hope it might make some couples think twice and give their marriage another chance, especially if they have children.
Unfortunately, this fair has arrived too late to help Macca and Heather sort out their multi-million pound divorce settlement (£50 million, how greedy can you get?), or French President Nikolas Sarkozy and his very independent wife Cecilia. (don’t you think their body language in the pic demonstrates their emotional distance?)
For those of you with time to spare, why not read this previous post I wrote on whether the cost of divorce is to blame for fewer marriages. A few souls were laid bare in the 56 comments.
