The Brits are right up there with Americans in terms of escalating rates of obesity and it appears they’re following us in another alarming trend: The increasing use of private investigators in divorce cases.

A new private investigation firm in the U.K. is getting most of its business from spouses who want proof their partners are cheating. God almighty: Following your spouse during lunch, snapping pictures from a parked car, posing as a construction worker…it all sounds eerily similar to the divorce detective character played by Nicholas Cage in the 1992 movie “Honeymoon in Vegas”. But this game is being played at a higher level.

Beyond spying on suspected adulterers and adulteresses, both husbands and wives are increasingly hiring investigators to hunt for secret assets one maybe be hiding from the other. In the long run, this quest is probably more practical and ultimately, may yield far more satisfying information.

Have the urge to say “Gotcha you x!?&”? Want bona fide proof that he’s not just working late every night, losing weight and dressing better for nothing?

Before you spend all that money to hire a detective, consider that if you live in one of the 15 states (including California, Arizona, Colorado and Michigan) that allows no-fault divorce, getting confirmation that your spouse is cheating probably won’t help your bottom line. Why? Because marital assets (or community property) will likely get split down the middle, no matter how much of a louse he is.

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http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/Story?id=3199316&page=1