This article talks about the film Marriage Story, which has some very on point dramatizations of what can happen in real life. Divorce is hard enough, but when a couple thinks that this can be very simple and easy and should not cost us anything to get divorced, they are many times proven drastically wrong. Even when a couple starts out with the premise that they feel there is not a lot to fight over, if they get involved in a litigated divorce, things become positional very early on and many times the couple are oceans away from where they originally started…thinking that they could do this simply, either by a difference of opinion or a perceived breach of trust, or a multitude of many other reasons. This is why Mediation and the Collaborative process is so vital and important. These processes are based on and revolve around the clients and their communications and trying to keep things on a settlement track from beginning to end.
The other fallacies that most people don’t realize is that no matter what you do or which path you take, divorce does not come for free. There are legal implications that are imposed by the Courts and paperwork that is required as well as filing fees. This paperwork, although the Court has a do it yourself section, is very difficult for a lay person to actually accomplish. Therefore, you need the assistance of a professional, to not only navigate the process of divorce, but to get the paper work done correctly. One thing is for sure, using an alternative method like Collaborative Divorce or Mediation is much more cost effective than litigation and as I like to say, in these methods the parties never go to Court, only their paperwork does.
Selected excerpt(s), photo and linked article courtesy of Elle Hunt, The Guardian; & Netflix/Guardian Design Team