How To Have A Happy Divorce
We loved chatting to Stephen Armstrong and he’s written a brilliant article in Mr Porter about no-fault divorce and our new book. Sometimes it’s difficult to get across quite how destructive it can be for couples when they fail to work together through divorce. But Stephen nails it. If you don’t have time to read the whole article, read this extract:
“It’s exactly the kind of book my friend Nick needed. He works in the back office of an investment bank and made the mistake of telling his boss, who had been through the family courts a couple of years ago, that he was splitting up with his wife. His boss introduced him to his own lawyer who was well-known, his boss assured him, for looking after every penny. By which, Nick later told me, he must have meant “for himself”.
“The guy practically went in punching,” Nick says. “His letters were really aggressive. He managed to make what started off as quite a gentle parting into something really nasty. About halfway through, I was talking to my boss about it all and it turned out he wasn’t speaking to his ex, he hardly saw his kids, but he’d managed to keep almost half the house money. I thought, ‘why did I take advice from this man?’ He’s ruined his life.”
“The problem is that many couples like the idea of working together, but there’s this fear in the back of their minds that they’re going to be somehow manipulated or done over or lose out because there’s this great strategic game of chess that they should be playing,” Gates says. “In fact, it’s important to say, ‘No, listen, you’re not missing out on anything – it’s the vast minority of cases that need to go to court, the majority should be working together and, actually, this is how you do it.’ Crucially, lawyers aren’t the first people you should be calling.”
To read the full article click here.
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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