www.WhoNeedsMarriage?.com
Real divorce, in cyberspace.

By Kathryn Jean Lopez
March 14, 2002, 9:15 a.m.

ired 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.