Wall Street Journal, Breaking Up Without Breaking the Bank:
Breaking up is always hard to do. In the worst economic downturn most of us have ever lived through, it can be downright excruciating. Plummeting home values, sagging investments, job worries and exploding college and health-care costs have made parting ways and splitting assets more difficult than ever.
Even for couples with fewer assets than, say, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren, that is a good recipe for frustration and anger. One St. Louis family lawyer, Marta Papa, has seen such a rise in client hostility that she purchased a Taser, which she places on a nearby end table when couples come in. "The scarier part is that I've had to use it three times" by casting a red laser-beam light as a warning, Ms. Papa says. "I guess the chocolates and classical music weren't enough."…
Mick and Patricia Twomey, now 40 and 39 years old, respectively, have found it difficult to untie the knot. They decided to separate in 2007 after 10 years of marriage, but didn't finalize their divorce until last year. In the interim, they watched helplessly as the value of their business, house and investments tumbled. …
Litigation can cost tens of thousands of dollars, take several months or even years, and is likely to disclose more personal information than mediated or collaborative divorces would. … One couple spent two hours in court arguing over a leaf blower, Ms. Papa says. "I could have bought them each a new one for the amount it cost them." …
The growth in so-called alternative divorce methods has helped trim costs. Only 1% of mediation cases cost couples more than $15,000, compared with 11% of litigated cases, according to the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, a group of financial professionals who specialize in divorce.
In mediation, couples meet with lawyers outside of court to hash out a mutually acceptable agreement that is later brought before a judge. In collaborative divorce, couples typically engage a phalanx of experts—including lawyers, mental-health professionals and financial planners—to work out an agreement in a more-structured environment of negotiation. …
The Twomeys decided to use the collaborative-divorce process, which is encouraged under Texas divorce laws. In a series of five meetings with two attorneys and mental-health and financial professionals, the couple mapped out their post-marriage lives.
"It's almost like Turbo Tax for divorce," Mr. Twomey says. "You just answer the questions and everything gets filled out."
