Avoid the Divorce Industry In Canada

The $10 Billion Divorce Industry, aka divorce industrial complex where the insiders reap vast rewards and many others benefit from your divorce nightmare!

Law Commission of Ontario reports on the divorce industry: If you are new to the separation and divorce process in this province, let me draw you a picture: Think of the last time you went to renew your passport…

Entering the office, you take a number from the dispenser by the door. Walking in, you see a many others, all clutching their numbers and papers,

all there for the same purpose. The line moves slowly and you begin to wonder. Hours later, when you are close to being served, a wicket closes – and you wonder why.

The family law system is similar. It is a dated process that needs upgrading, inefficient and expensive, yet it churns out court orders and divorce decrees every day.

The Law Commission of Ontario, an organization that operates independently of government recommends law reforms to enhance access to justice, published an in-depth report on the family law system in the province. Its first report was published in 2010. Even lawyers, who are the main beneficiaries of the “divorce industry”, participated in funding this important report.

Among other things, the report deplores the “divorce industry” as a system that:

• Can bankrupt the litigants ( a litigant is you if you engage in the family courts)
• Routinely ignores the wishes and interests of children
• Takes far too long for final resolution

The Final Report on the Family Law Project, published in February 2013, can be found here.

In the current system, the biggest drivers of cost are legal fees and time. Imagine that you and your spouse are going to divorce and each of you heads to a lawyer’s office, pays a retainer and begins the process.

Once all the initial paperwork has been dealt with, the lawyer for the husband says, “To get us started, let’s begin with a few minor points that should be resolved easily.”

Following this meeting, the husband’s lawyer composes an e-mail that outlines his client’s position on these “minor points”; the e-mail includes a reference to a TV set.

You might be thinking that, since my colleagues and I are in the mediation business, we are automatically opposed to the use of lawyers in a divorce action.

That’s just not true, since every divorce requires that lawyers become involved in the process at some point-in-time. However, when, how and why one retains legal counsel in a divorce action can greatly influence the final cost.  The timing, process and rationale for hiring a lawyer are all detailed on this website.

Most divorces are “uncontested” which means that they do not go to trial. However, “uncontested” does not mean that the divorcing parties negotiated the terms of their divorce without assistance – far from it.

Rarely do divorcing couples hammer out the terms of their divorce without any assistance whatsoever. Instead, they turn to others for assistance, traditionally, lawyers from day one, or, more recently, trained mediators.

When you think about it, the adversarial approach of two lawyers hammering out a deal on behalf of two warring litigants, it is easy to understand why this time-proven approach is often a divorcing couple’s first thought.

Similarly, where you have two people each angry with the other and, often, in a fragile emotional state, you might think that mediation just isn’t possible.

Yet, a landmark, 12-year research study, led by Dr. Robert Emery, shows that mediation wins over litigation on every measure studied.

The study, which used a high conflict group as its sample, randomly selected whether the divorcing couple would proceed using litigation or mediation (the latter, being relatively short-term, about 5 hours). The study followed these couples for 12 years and found, amongst other things, that

• Divorce mediation kept most families out of court. Of those who litigated, 75% appeared before a judge (versus 20% for those who mediated),
• Many more non-resident parents saw their children regularly 12 years later if their case was mediated (28%, vs. 9% for those who litigated),
• Many more non-resident parents telephones their children regularly 12 years later if their case was mediated (52%, vs. 18% for those who litigated),

and, perhaps most important

Those who mediated scored better “grades” on every area of parenting that was studied, including discipline, grooming, religious and moral training, recreation, vacations, and the ability to discuss problems with their parents.

If you want to read more, just click here.