“Ha ha! Thought they’d cut us out, did they? Fools!”
Do-It-Yourself Divorces Creating Problems
Rising legal fees, fewer legal aid services and a do-it-yourself mentality are driving more Californians to handle their own divorces, but sometimes not very successfully.
Court officials and legal experts worry that tens of thousands of former California couples don’t realize their divorces weren’t finalized after they tried to end their marriages. Many more, officials say, simply let their cases languish because they’re stumped by complex paperwork and court procedures.
“People just don’t get it done. They don’t know how to get it done,” said L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mark Juhas. “That’s troubling. There are legal ramifications to continuing to be married.”
About 80 percent of people in California filled out divorce paperwork for themselves, according to court officials. It’s estimated that about a third of all petitions have not been finalized.
Whoaaa…. 80 percent of people in California filled out divorce paperwork for themselves…???
80%?? That can’t be right- for instance could even just the children in the state only add up to 20%?
Is it commonplace that in the United States you have to have an expert with two degrees and a bar exam under their belt to sign out a FORM due to their complexity?
Now, if we could just require this much paperwork and maybe an IQ test of couples before having children.
#2: The ways in which the legal profession has made it certain you have to use them is wondrous and mysterious to behold.
I had a DIY divorce in Virginia. It was not as easy as they lead you to believe, but only slightly more difficult. It has to be an “uncontested” divorce, otherwise it won’t really work. Child custody compounds the problem. The ex and I agreed on everything, so in the end, it only cost me about $300 as opposed to $3k to $5k if I had to go through a lawyer.
Since uncontested divorces cost the State less, it would be in the State interest to make the whole process easier. A Magistrate or Master who can review the documents first and request confirmation of any problems would speed everything up.
Screw the bull about protecting the interests of one party, when it is uncontested the interests are already protected. If the documentation and process are so onerous then even lawyers and court clerks have a much greater chance or error.
#3 Not only children, if we could make the marriage process this difficult, it would give couples more time to reconsider the wisdom of getting married in the first place.
They should just make pre-filled divorce papers part of the wedding license. Then all you have to do is add final signatures at any time to make the divorce happen.
It is not dissolving a marriage that is complicated, it is the attendant “details,” like the disposition of property and custody of the children, that make it complicated.
that and the fact that getting a divorce tends to unleash the pent-up venom from the failed marriage, so suddenly that ugly vase that you always hated, must, simply MUST be yours. and if you can’t spend Columbus day with your kids they will be emotionally scarred FOR LIFE. and you will be damned if you are going to let that bastard live in the house YOU DECORATED even if he offers to buy you out, so you’d see it sold to a stranger first! and you know that b*tch!! is just going to take that child support money and spend it on one of her deadbeat boyfriends …
and so on.
dont blame the lawyers for this one, friends. even if the divorce is ‘amicable,’ the complexity exists to head off unamicable developments and protect the interests of third parties, like creditors.
#9, very true. Here though, we are talking about uncontested divorces. Where the assets, children, debt, residences, etc, have all been agreed to in advance. Having a Master check this all off first would save the court and couple a lot of time and effort.
With contested divorces I fully agree that there should be a full hearing and some sober second thought.
#10. No doubt a noncon is still complicated. Probably more complicated than need be for a case of minimal assets, amicably divided. but the idea that the legal system is complicated for its own sake, or to keep the lawyers’ monopoly on access to the courts, is simply wrong. every layer of complexity, every form and every line on every form is probably there to ensure fairness to the other side, other parties who may or may not know that a divorce is even happening, and/or to head off problems that have surfaced in the past.
perhaps the problems wont surface in the given case of Mrs. Smith v. Mr. Smith, but the system is not set up for best case scenarios. It is designed to deal with the scenario of Mrs. Smith discovering 4 months after filing that Mr. Smith had a lot more stock options than he told her during their ‘amicable’ division of property. and whenever kids are involved, their interests need to be taken into account, no matter what the parents have decided. getting that all fairly incorporated into a judgment could be complicated.
it is a damn shame there is not more assistance for low-income filers, but we can thank the GOP congress for trying to zero out funding for Legal Aid.
I was sitting in court in a rural jurisdiction one day, waiting my turn at arguing a motion to dismiss, when a couple was finalizing their noncon. He had a freshly ironed pair of overalls, she had what was probably her best tube top. He got the truck, she got the trailer, and they each kept what they had kept during the splitup. the judge asked them a few perfunctory questions then entered the judgment. after they left, he just looked at me and said, “You know that one’s coming back.” Me, I just nodded.
those folks probably couldn’t have figured out HDTV either, but there you go.
#10. Oh, and BTW, I agree about having a Master to help out pro se litigants. I guess my beef is really with the graphic that goes with the story.
god knows that most of the legal profession’s image problem is self-inflicted – talk like selfless defenders of Justice and the American Way, but act like vultures, and people are going to be cynical.
Fifty ways to leave your lover, but over ten Godzillion required, signed, in quadruplicate, ways to dump a spouse.
#10 – Don’t leave me…
Hi All,
This is surya.
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