A divorce lawyer has issued a warning to anyone thinking of trying a new dating trend.
Many of us, sadly, have been there when an exciting new person we've been dating turns out to be not quite what we were hoping.
Maybe they snore, or hide their toenail clippings under the sofa, or they're wonderful, but when you meet their family, things get weird.
Whether it's a big reason or a smaller reason, sadly, sometimes relationships simply don't work out.
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Many people may be keen to break things off, and understandably so.
But now a new dating trend on TikTok is suggesting a novel approach to when a relationship starts to turn sour, and a divorce lawyer has some warnings about it.
This is the 'date them til you hate them' trend.
Rather than breaking things off and moving on when it becomes clear things aren't working, this approach suggests simply staying with someone even if you don't like them.
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The theory goes that it will make it easier to get over someone because you won't have that 'what if' playing on your brain - you will loathe them to the point that you're glad they're out of your life.
Think of it like waiting until there's literal mould sprouting out of a bottle of milk to throw it out, rather than simply smelling that it's off.
But a divorce lawyer has now warned that, shockingly, this trend could cause more problems than it solves - and they'd know.
And the main reason for this is that the longer you date someone, the more likely it is that your lives will become intermingled in more ways than one.
We're talking finances, houses, possessions, pets, weddings, children, all of which make breaking up significantly more complicated and stressful than an uncomfortable chat in a cafe, or just texting your booty call 'ur dumped bye'.
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Rosalind Fitzgerald is a divorce lawyer at Rayden Solicitors, and told The Mirror that these factors make waiting to break up a bad idea if you want a clean break.
She says: “When couples have intermingled their finances in any way - or, far more significantly, have had children together - deliberately turning love to hate can only serve to make separation more bitter, complex and costly.
“In almost all but the most transient of relationships, there are mutual possessions, interwoven finances to unpick and a degree of sensible communication is required to do so. "And what could be more disastrous for your children’s long-term mental health than hatred between parents? However hard parents try to disguise this, children will pick up on all sorts of subtle signs.
"They will certainly notice if their parents never speak at handover and sense the tension.”
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So there you have it - if things aren't working, it's better just to bite the bullet, get over them, and get under someone else.
Kit Roberts