The economic crisis may be doing what pastors, family therapists and matrimonial counselors have long struggled to accomplish and yet mostly failed: keeping troubled marriages together.

Marriage counselors and divorce lawyers nationwide say more distressed couples are putting off divorce because the cost of splitting up is prohibitive in a time of stagnant salaries, plummeting home values and rising unemployment.

While the stress of economic uncertainty often worsens already shaky unions, it also can make couples more financially dependent on each other, said Pamela Smock, a researcher at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

"I had a woman say to me: 'My God, I can’t stand my husband. Every day I just want to leave him, but I can’t afford it,'" said Robi S. Ludwig, co-author of Till Death Do Us Part. So they decided to stay together.

via MSNBC

One of my ex-colleagues used to frequently tell about his spouse, "I want to divorce her but I cannot afford it". I thought it was kind of odd, especially during the late nineties when the economy was booming. However today, it is the reality for many couple across USA.

So even US economic recession has a silver lining.