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of being married, but can't be bothered to go through the legal
hassle of a divorce?
Don't let that
be a hindrance!
You might be
eligible to untie the knot online.
That's right.
CompleteCase.com is the
new face of divorce — or so hopes its creator, Seattle attorney
Randy Finney.
For a flat
fee of $249, plus court-filing fees, residents of California, Florida,
New York, and Washington can file their divorce papers online with
just a credit-card number and some personal information. The site
will even calculate child support, based on your gross income.
And —
better still — you won't have to talk to a soul about your
divorce. "CompleteCase.com operates," according to the
site, "without human interaction. No lawyer will review the
documents, nor will any paralegal or any other person." Once
the CompleteCase.com process is complete, you print out the forms
and send them via snail-mail to the appropriate courthouse.
One satisfied
California customer told the San Francisco Chronicle: "My
wife and I are having a fairly amicable divorce. She can work on
her side. I can work on my side. We can work on it through a virtual
meeting and not actually meet face-to-face."
Finney says
the site is about fairness. "As a family-law attorney, I receive
daily calls from people who cannot access the justice system because
they cannot or will not hire an attorney. This was a logical way
to provide professional-appearing documents, computerized calculations
(such as for child support), and simple explanations on an issue-by-issue
basis."
Launched from
Washington in May 2001, the site has been used by about 1,000 couples
to complete their divorce cases, according to Finney. He expects
a good many more after recent publicity.
Finney dismisses
charges that, with no middleman to help them think twice, couples
might move too casually toward divorce. "People will not get
a divorce because of the availability of this service. If they are
going to get a divorce, it is better for the entire family if they
do it in an amicable way and do it without going bankrupt."
And as for
the children, he's helping them too, Finney says. "The long,
arduous and frequently hostile environment of the divorce process
is probably one of the most harmful things to children and families
in this country. In addition, the average cost of a divorce is about
$15,000. If a couple is going to divorce, it is better for all concerned
if they do so without hatred and in a way that preserves the family
assets for the children." Unfortunately, it's not merely the
divorce process that harms children, but divorce itself and what
it does to families. With e-mail or without, there is no easy divorce.
With some 20
million divorces a year in the United States, CompleteCase.com is
just what we need: the illusion that divorce can be relatively
simple, casual, and routine.
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