Technology

Breaking Up Isn't Hard To Do... Lawyers Made An App For That!

New platform seeks to deliver a modified DIY experience for divorce.

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The high cost of legal services may not phase Biglaw clients — outside of a few grumbles — but beyond corporate boardrooms, even the lowest-priced legal services elicit sticker shock from the average person. And it’s not like taking on the system alone is a viable endeavor with almost every form and procedure designed to deliberately confuse anyone outside the elite society of attorneys. It’s gotten so bad that the struggle to make the legal system accessible to average people is even teetering on the edge of the Supreme Court.

It’s enough to make some people not even like lawyers.

Hence, the market for “DIY” legal services. Attorneys marshal the forms people need for simple tasks and for a nominal fee, the ordinary American can handle their problems all on their own, comfortable in the knowledge that a professional has blessed the forms. And it works for a lot of legal conundrums. But as Family Law attorney Erin Levine notes, there are legal issues that aren’t well-suited to the DIY model:

Existing DIY options have been a great solution for more transactional type areas of the law that produce documents such as wills or powers of attorney. In consumer-facing areas of law that require participation of the court (such as divorce and landlord/tenant issues), however, navigating the clerks and courts is an art form. While it might not necessarily be rocket science, it is an acquired skill. For example, some counties “require” forms that the state literally says are “optional.” Moreover, forms are worthless if a person doesn’t know where to file them or how to coordinate service.

But spending $18,000-$27,000 on a divorce attorney — the U.S. average — isn’t a particularly attractive option either. That’s what inspired Levine to create a DIY platform for divorce that is realistic about what people can do for themselves and what requires more direct attorney guidance. Offering clients the option to consult with an attorney on either a subscription-based or fixed-rate basis. Costs averaged around $1500.

This month, Levine is launching Divorce Navigator 2.0 to disrupt the law of disrupting relationships.

Here’s how it works. First, the user completes a guided interview. As a certified family law specialist, I called on my 15 years of experience to create questions that will elicit the best responses. Both the platform and app use artificial intelligence and conditional logic to ask users only the questions (sans legalese) that they need to answer to populate the forms that apply to them and are most likely to be accepted by the court clerks. Divorce Navigator also includes guidance for filing and/or serving legal documents as well as the option to have us do this for you. All users also have on-demand access to experienced (and kind) flat-fee lawyers to review, coach, and help determine if full representation is in the client’s best interest, especially when a lot is at stake. And for extra support, Divorce Navigator includes free tools and resources such as flow charts, tutorial videos, wellness posts from influencers in the legal coaching and therapy space, and self-care checklists.

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The whole thing costs $99 per month and can be upgraded or downgraded. Over the course of a typical divorce, that still nets the attorneys $1000, but streamlines the process by removing time wasted by attorneys doing work that the client can easily perform. As Levine puts it, the key to the product is understanding what is and is not the best use of an attorney:

So, even if clients end up accessing a fixed-fee lawyer through Hello Divorce (or engaging a different divorce lawyer), they are paying them for what they should be using lawyers for: to problem solve, strategize, protect rights, and review and revise documents, not drafting forms, delivering them to a courthouse, and coordinating service, etc.

Based on this description it almost makes you want to get married just so you can try it out!

How and Why a Cynic of “DIY” Law Built a DIY Divorce Platform [Medium]

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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