In some situations, asking for an open marriage may be a sign that your spouse has already cheated and is asking for retroactive permission or forgiveness. In others, it may be because your spouse has already been eying a potential mate and wants to act on those urges.

Is an open marriage infidelity?

In an open marriage, the spouses usually agree that they will be able to have romantic relationships and sexual intercourse with people other than their spouses. Even in an open marriage, the spouses may still technically meet the definition of “adultery” in their extra-marital relations.

Can open marriages work?

It is said that less than 1% of couples are in open marriages, Neil explains. Twenty-percent of couples have experimented with consensual non monogamy [but] open marriage has a 92% failure rate.