It is no secret that divorce filings have decreased in recent months. Many people believe they are in a situation where they "can't afford to divorce". However, two divorce lawyers believe differently.
According to a St. Louis attorney who describes himself as representing men in divorce, the current recession is the ideal time to divorce. If divorce is going to happen, he reasons, its far better to divorce at a time when assets and income are at their lowest.
A Tampa based divorce attorney who represents women agrees, but for different reasons.
The recession can be used to his client's advantage as well, especially in what were two income families. If a woman has been laid off from her job, it stands to reason that she will have a need for increased child support and alimony.
Its hard to say whether many people agree with the reasoning of either lawyer. One thing is clear: divorce rates in south florida have declined. In Miami-Dade County, divorces dropped from 3,239 for the first three months of 2008 to 3,196 during the same period in 2009. In Broward, the number dropped from 2,148 for the first quarter of 2008 to 1,543 for the same period in 2009.
No one can say which gender will fare better by divorcing in a recession. But the one encouraging thing I see, as a collaborative attorney and a mediator, is that many couples are not buying into this "seize the opportunity to divorce now and pay less to your spouse" mentality. They seem to recognize that their spouse may not go quietly with less money and will probably launch a counter attack, i.e. a highly contested divorce. A highly contested divorce = lots of money spent in lawyer fees. Forget dividing what is left of the 401k- it will be liquidated and divided between your two attorneys.
If this happens, the economic gain advertised by these lawyers, i.e., less assets to give to your spouse, less alimony/child support, etc., will be offset by the high cost of contested divorce litigation. As the saying goes, only the lawyers will win. It appears that many recognize this, preferring to wait to divide their union in less economically distressed times and, perhaps ironically, have decided that, at least for the present, that they are in this together.
1 comment:
There are so much of good reasons for which many law firms are limiting their law practices to collaborative divorce. It is been indicated by many cases that collaborative laws generally ends up with a good result when it is compared to others. Collaborative divorce can be a multipart experience requiring recommendation and guidance from various perspectives if it is to be navigated soundly. But all this complexity is worth an effort because it prepares you to deal with the emotional challenges and changes reflected by divorce and offer the resources that can best assist you create a healthy changeover from marital to single life.
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