Expert reveals seven signs you may be married to a 'walkaway wife'

Have you heard of the 'walkaway wife'? If you don't want your marriage to crash and burn then it's probably a good idea to wise up on what it means and why it happens so much.

What you need to know is that, according to the Office for National Statistics, 63.1 percent of divorces among opposite-sex couples in the UK are initiated by women, so if anyone is going to take the decision to call it quits on a dead marriage it's usually the wife.

It's here that the term 'walkaway wife' comes from, and it refers to women who, after much effort on their part trying to fix things in a failing marriage, finally hit the point where they mentally checked out and were ready to walk away.

Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead (Getty Stock Images)

This situation could really apply to either side of a marriage, there will be plenty of husbands who end their marriage after deciding they're getting nothing back from their other half, but the term 'walkaway wife' is the one that got coined.

This decision often comes out of the blue for the other person, who either ignored or failed to spot the signs that their marriage was heading for divorce.

If only they'd listened to relationship experts like Roya Royle, a registered therapist who told the Metro the seven signs to be on the lookout for.

Stonewalling

The 'walkaway wife' is not a case of someone deciding to up and skedaddle out of their long-term relationship without any build-up, it's the end point on a long road of disappointment and disillusion.

Royle said that among the most obvious signs your partner had made up their mind to walk away is when attempts at any sort of conversation beyond the functional are shut down.

The relationship expert said if you felt your partner was 'physically in the room but not really there with you', that's a very bad sign.

If your talks are 'shorter and more practical' and you don't keep having those jokes which keep a relationship going then the alarm ought to be sounding in your head.

Same house, different lives? Not a good sign (Getty Stock Images)

Separately, together

Another sign that your relationship could be almost over and your partner is planning on walking away is if they start living a separate life from you and you basically just happen to be roommates.

Roya said this might take the form of 'more time with friends' or taking up 'new hobbies', or could even be more practical, like getting 'separate bank accounts'.

Basically, if they're starting to live a life without you then it might be a sign that they're getting their new routines ready for the time when you're no longer something they need to dedicate attention to.

If your partner is mentally checking out of the relationship before leaving you there will be signs (Getty Stock Images)

No sex please, we're divorcing

Pretty much any relationship expert can tell you that if your sex life plummets downwards and then flatlines, it's going to cause issues for your relationship.

The expert said that even if you were still getting physically intimate, it might 'feel more functional'.

However, in this case she said that you should be mindful of whether this is happening because your partner has mentally checked out of the relationship and is physically checking out too, or because there's something else going on which is bringing them down.

Don't assume that a problem means they're planning on leaving.

Divorce expert Michele Weiner-Davis suggested that different people communicated their needs and desires in different ways, and that problems arise when people fail to recognise their partner's love language.

If all you do is argue then there are some major red flags in your relationship (Getty Stock Images)

Playing the critical hits

On the other end of a sudden lack of communication is a huge amount of it, largely focused on the topic of how you're doing everything wrong.

Counsellor Jeff Guenther said that being appreciated feels 'amazing', but a 'lack of appreciation can erode the foundation of your relationship'.

If all your conversations are about criticism then you're not going to be enjoying each other's company.

The future ain't what it used to be

If you've said that you'll be with someone 'until death do us part' then you'd expect that plans for the future would include them.

The next warning sign is what happens when this is no longer the case.

You don't do holidays, you don't make long-term plans together, if the two of you have stopped working on your future together then it's possible you're not going to have one.

Guenther said being 'genuinely excited about our future together' was a question you needed to ask of your own relationship and if you weren't then the problem was obvious.

The end might come out of the blue, until you think back to how things were going (Getty Stock Images)

It can't be helped now

According to Roya, another sign of a partner mentally checking out of the relationship and getting ready to leave is when they stop asking you for help.

If you're with someone who 'handles everything alone or speaks as if it’s pointless to ask' when the two of you used to be a team that is yet another red flag to add to the pile.

Ideally, it should be the two of you against the problem, even when it comes to arguments, but if your other half has decided they can't count on you to help then you are in trouble.

Child soldiers

If you've got children together then even they aren't safe from being used as weapons in a disintegrating marriage.

One half of the marriage spending more time with the kids could tie in with the previous sign about living a life without you, and if you've got a 'walkaway wife' who is planning on leaving you then they're not going to ditch the kids in the mix.

Instead, the experts reckon they're going to want an even closer connection with their children.