Unfortunately for them - family groups and churches will be glad to hear - "cyber divorce" doesn't quite involve zapping marriage into digital oblivion, dusting one's hands, and getting back into the fray of single living in the space of one afternoon.

Directors of Online Lawyer - the company which has developed intelligent software to ask the questions normally posed by a solicitor - say their service has the potential to speed up the divorce process where both partners agree to split.

People who want to petition for divorce can choose to log on to the Internet, download - for a price - all the required documents, fill them in and email them to the service's legal team.

Going through a conventional law firm to get one's marriage dissolved can take as little as three months.

But what many couples expecting a "quickie divorce" soon discover is that consultations with solicitors and backlogs of paperwork at county courts can result in the process being spun out over several months.

"We have developed intelligent software which works on the basis of a logic tree, and so knows which questions to ask a customer," says Online Lawyer's legal director Richard Cohen.

"Half an hour after downloading, we could be delivering the petition to the court.

"Normally, you would have to make an appointment to see a solicitor locally, you would then have to wait a few days to see them.

"Then you would spend an hour going through your details and the solicitor would go away and fill in the form on your behalf, then they would post you a copy for your approval, so that you could make amendments.

"It can take a couple of weeks just to get the petition right."

Download the package ...

The online service is also cheaper than visiting a solicitor in person - their uncontested divorce package costs £79.99, and for a limited time will be free to Freeserve subscribers.

That, of course, does not include the court's fees of about £150, and any expenses incurred in obtaining a sworn affidavit (although it's worth remembering that the county courts will do that for free).

The package compares to solicitor's fees of roughly £400 plus VAT for a divorce which goes through without complications.

But the apparently clinical approach to terminating one's marriage has upset not a few supporters of the institution.

Spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Church, Patricia Hardcastle said initiating and seeing through divorce proceedings "face to face" made people "stop and think".

But solicitors would be the first people to highlight that they do not, and have never provided a counselling service. Once people have decided that their marriage should end, they merely provide the required legal expertise.

Mr Cohen said: "What we have done is made a product of several different legal services, of which divorce is one.

"The software has allowed us to prepare legal services for consumption in this way. You click and add to your shopping basket as you would with any other product bought online.

"There is no moral issue, and our service does not incite divorce. People generally spend months, even years contemplating divorce - they are not going to do it just because it is easier to do.

"We are simply making access to legal facilities easier."

Secretary for the support group, the National Council for the Divorced and Separated, Pat Webster, said that anything that made the divorce process less painful for those involved should be welcomed - cautiously.

She said: "It is a great shame that information on counselling is not more readily available to couples who decide to get divorced.

"We are still disappointed at the Lord Chancellor's decision not to implement mandatory counselling sessions for divorcing couples.

"There is a temptation to view this development with the fear that in a rage, someone may go to their computer and file for divorce - at least in having to see a solicitor there is the time to have cooled down.

"But the divorce process itself can be very traumatic, and anything which makes that less painful for people who can really see no other solution to their problems, should be welcomed."

The E-cyclopedia can be contacted at e-cyclopedia@bbc.co.uk