Over eight hundred thousand marriages end in divorce every year in the United States. A dissolution of marriage can occur for a many reasons, and no situation is the same. While infidelity and incompatibility are the most frequently listed causes for the dissolution of a marriage, factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, and life course variables play a role. The post divorce adjustment process can be grueling for divorcees, and especially adolescent children if they are involved. The emotional, legal, and financial stress of a divorce can increase the symptoms of depression, and strain the mental health of all parties involved. Fortunately however, these effects can be mitigated by pursuing marriage counseling in the form of individual or couples counseling.
Legal Separation
There are some cases where a married couple may be looking to separate or live apart, but divorce is simply not the right option for them. Legal separation is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. Often times this can be due to religious concerns or may stem from other personal reasons to keep the legal status of marriage intact. In these situations, we can help guide you through the emotional path of separation.
Each Divorce Case is Unique
We handle all components of divorce, and can assist you with child custody, child support, visitation, spousal support, division of assets, and any other special circumstances that may arise from your divorce case. No divorce case is “normal”, and we treat all cases with the unique attention and insight that they deserve. You are always our top priority!
Psychological impact of a divorce – seeking professional therapy can help greatly
For most families, divorces are extremely complicated and involve a lot of sadness, anger, stress and confusion. We work to make the divorce process more manageable and less stressful by explaining all relevant legal issues and responding to the individual client’s needs in each case. Our goal is to help families achieve the custody arrangements they need, emotional peace of mind through counseling services to successfully rebuild and restart their lives following a divorce.
No two divorces are alike and, as a result, we tailor our representation to fit your case. We will analyze your background and your spouse’s background, finances, the assigned judge, and if the divorce involves children, your children and their needs. There is no substitute for having an experienced lawyer and firm who have managed all these variables in thousands of cases before yours.
This is not surprising given mediation – of all kinds – is without a high street presence. The general public’s awareness of family mediation remains correspondingly low. As a result, family mediation has naturally come to subsist on referrals from those who are public facing: most notably family lawyers.
For the client, access to a senior lawyer at a fixed fee raises trust levels in mediation and represents a cost saving – even when mediation fees are added. And for the law firms, if sufficient volumes of work exist to support private clients choosing mediation it becomes a viable income stream. Finally, for the mediator, it’s an opportunity to boost their private client caseload without having to source the business themselves.
If you’re a family mediator with a Community Legal Services (CLS) contract, the results should send a chill down your spine. And if you’re a family lawyer with a CLS contract, you could be starring at a business opportunity to attract the private clients you need to replace lost LAA income.
This is not surprising given the LAA is paying legal aid lawyers a maximum of $350 to support publicly funded mediation assuming i) it ends in agreement and ii) involves finances. Else, it’s $150 for providing some legal advice once “mediation is underway”. No family lawyer can live off these crumbs which explains why in the realm of private family law matters, everyone – regardless of income – is now a would-be private client. Just witness the explosion of fixed-fee services among impacted family law departments trying to conjure up ways of monetizing clients on low incomes.
But here’s where it gets interesting. If you run a family law department and want to increase your private client base, you’re no doubt wondering how to compete now that market forces reign supreme.
And when it comes to converting parties to mediation, there’s so much room for improvement. Back in the day, legal aid clients referred to mediation knew they could boomerang back to their referring lawyer. Moreover, the pitch to Party B was – and continues to be – extremely poor. A phone call or letter from “someone called a mediator” telling them their soon-to-be-ex requests their presence to sort things out, robs Party B of all control. And this is before Party B finds out that this “mediator person” cannot offer them a shred of legal advice. No wonder only 12% of all 75,320 referrals ended in agreement.
Currently, in the USA, privately funded disputes over children and financial arrangements can push the cost of divorce to over $10,000 per couple in legal fees.
Couple A: Both partners eligible for legal aid from today
Undertaken by researcher Kim Tasso, the survey’s findings – albeit derived from a small sample – point to poor satisfaction levels with divorce lawyers. Such sentiment is barely out of the headlines: two week’s ago the Legal Ombudsman published a report slamming service levels and pricing due to the sheer volume and nature of the complaints it received.
As the author concludes in the report’s executive summary: “Whilst it is a small sample, the cost of divorce for these people does appear to be out of balance with their incomes. What is of concern is that the cost of divorce prevented the majority from obtaining the legal advice that they needed, that fixed fees and alternative methods were not provided to most of them and that there was a high level of dissatisfaction with the legal service received.”
We think survey results of this kind reinforce the notion of a market failure. In essence, one-time shoppers and the absence of customer feedback loops result in no pressure to innovate on the part of the family lawyer. They’re simply not at risk.
And it requires being listened to by experts in the field. This is why anyone contacting Lawyer Supported Mediationwill be offered a free of charge telephone consultation with both a senior family lawyer and a conveniently located recommended family mediator. Because until you’ve had an opportunity to discuss your individual circumstances with professionals in the field, it’s unlikely you’ll be aware of the appropriate choices available to you.
It could well be that your circumstances require the immediate application of pre-court process. Our network of senior family lawyers in San Diego and throughout the USA – are all experienced litigators – and will advise you if this is the case.
Whether “Divorce Day” actually exists is a matter of opinion but there’s no shortage of advice being published for those considering separation or divorce at the start of each year.
The sad fact is that any well-intentioned checklist of divorce dos and don’ts will always be easier said than done.