'Black Friday For Firms': Divorce Lawyers Expect Surge In Clients Following Ashley Madison Hack

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Divorce lawyers expect a surge of new clients following the data breach of the infidelity dating website Ashley Madison.

"Clearly the number of families that get divorced is going to increase," said Steve Mindel, a family law attorney. "It's going to be like black Friday for the law firms."

Mindel believes he and his colleagues will be busy in the next several weeks when couples confront, then decide to divorce.

According to dadaviz.com, Los Angeles ranks eighth when it comes to the cities with the highest number of Ashley Madison accounts with nearly 182,000.

"It's unbelievable the amount of animosity and frustration they have to feel before they call a divorce attorney," he said.

But Mindel believes discovering a spouse on Ashley Madison is not the only reason couples will decide to go their separate ways.

"Usually, infidelity is just a symptom of a much greater problem that's going on in the party's marriage. Once they start talking about their problems, they realize they're two different people, they're better off being separated," he said.

Mindel also points out that California is a "no-fault" divorce state, which means the spouse asking for the divorce doesn't have to prove the other spouse did something wrong.

He believes couples in other states will file and use the information from Ashley Madison to get more money in their settlement.