We interviewed a guy and without prompting (that's probably off limits anyway) he told us how he's divorced and has no real social life, so working long hours for us would be just fine by him. I wasn't impressed by him to start with, but that just put the final nail in the coffin for me. Not only did it sound a bit desperate, I'd prefer someone with a healthy attitude toward work and life. The other hiring managers felt the same way.
I'm glad to hear that attitude still exists among hiring managers. I'm working at an otherwise great company that doesn't give a rat's behind about work/life balance. I.e., if you're not still here at 6:30 or 7:00 PM you must not be a team player. Never mind if you have a wife and small child that you'd like to get home and have dinner with.
Marital status certainly is off-limits, and I've found a good general rule to be that anything that's impermissible for me to ask an interviewee is something that also doesn't merit mention when I'm on the other side of the table, both because to raise it puts my interlocutor in an uncomfortable position, and because such things really are not relevant in any case.
