As the old saying goes, "one person's loss is another person's gain."
Divorce is no exception to this rule. Divorce attorneys have known this
for years and have do well by many divorcing couples.
Marital
dissolution is a $28 billion dollar business, according to
maritalstatus.com. It's no surprise that outside investors have been
inventing new ways to cash in on a piece of the action in the recent
past.
The divorcing population, a once marginalized group, is now being marketed to. T
here
are oodles of gift websites for divorcing men and women. Souvenirs
cover a wide variety of items and appeal to a wide array of people. They
include mugs and t-shirts about being "free," celebratory divorce
cakes, pre-written alimony checks with nasty messages written in like,
"Payable to: Cause of All My Pain," wedding ring coffins, ex-wife toilet
paper and even knife holders in the shape of your ex-spouse.
Christmas,
London Family Law Attorney, Vanessa Lloyd Platt, a Senior Partner at
Lloyd Platt & Company, developed a "divorce voucher." This gift card
was something friends and family could give a loved one whom they
either knew would be divorcing in the near future or whom they believed
should get divorced. The card could be purchased for £125 (approximately
$195), and it bought a 30 minute divorce consultation.
In June,
2010, the media bombarded us with news that divorce parties in Japan
were all the rage. Couples could "un-marry" for approximately $600 in a
ceremony of ring smashing witnessed by friends and family complete with a
rickshaw to carry the couple to and fro and decorations for extra
flare.
Divorce parties and ceremonies were popular in America a
few years back, but these new fetes seem to have become a formal
enterprise for hire rather than just in-home parties thrown by a friend.
This
past summer, we saw the unveiling of Wedlock Divorce insurance by John
A. Logan, Founder of Safeguard Guaranty Corp. Marrying couples tentative
about their nuptials can purchase an insurance policy for as little as
$16 per month for $1,250 "units of protection." This would ensure that,
if the marriage indeed didn't last, he or she (the owner of the policy),
would have some cash available to apply toward attorneys fees or moving
fees.
The New York Times this week uncovered another emerging
enterprise - divorce "lawsuit lenders"-- companies that front money to
people involved in marital dissolution who couldn't otherwise pursue
"justice."
This lending practice has been in place for many other
types of contingency lawsuit cases but has only more recently hit the
divorce realm. Stacey Napp, founder of Balance Point, came up with the
idea after going through her own divorce and, in fact, started the
company using money from her settlement.
L.A. resident, Michelle
Pont, sought help from Balance Point when she discovered that the
settlement she had received in her marital dissolution was a mere
fraction of what should have been hers per California community property
laws. Fortuitously for her, Pont discovered that her husband's business
(that she helped build from the ground up) was worth millions. As such,
she was entitled to more money. Because she was out of financial means
and out of work, Pont didn't have the money to go after the additional
cash. That is, until she received a loan from Balance Point.
The loan enabled Ms. Pont to reopen the case and get what was rightfully hers.
As a Sacramento divorce lawyer, I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the commercialism of divorce.
On
the one hand, I'm glad that people have more information and resources
today than they did a decade ago when I embarked in the field.