Offering a simpler and cheaper path to divorce, an ever-growing array of dot-coms, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are encouraging unhappily married Americans to arrange their breakups online
Published:
30 May 2003 y., Friday
Offering a simpler and cheaper path to divorce, an ever-growing array of dot-coms, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are encouraging unhappily married Americans to arrange their breakups online.
For fees ranging from $50 to $300 — a small fraction of what most lawyers charge even for an uncontested divorce — couples are being provided with the appropriate forms and varying degrees of help completing them.
The phenomenon is spreading. Rival firms CompleteCase.com and LegalZoom.com each say they have served 20,000 clients nationwide in less than three years of operation. Hits on the divorce section of the California court system's do-it-youself Web site soared from 6,800 in May 2002 to about 15,000 last month.
"It's similar to the growth of online travel services and online stock trading," said Brian Lee, president of Los Angeles-based LegalZoom. "People are learning they don't need a travel agent or a stockbroker or a lawyer — they can do it themselves."
Many clients may still have to appear in court, but — in theory, at least — they will have all required paperwork with them and will be able to represent themselves.
Šaltinis:
usatoday.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
For the last 15 years European citizens living in another European country have been able to vote in that country's local and European elections.
more »
Zimbabwe is suffering from cholera.
more »
Metropolitan Kirill will head the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily following the death of Patriarch Alexiy II on Friday.
more »
U.S President George W. Bush celebrates his final Christmas in office - the lighting of the National Christmas tree.
more »
Under new draft laws, people travelling by bus and ship would enjoy the same rights as those taking a plane or train, including the right to meals, hotel accommodation and alternative services if the trip is cancelled or interrupted.
more »
The importance of individual happiness, which can be achieved with the help of universal human values - whether religious or non-religious - was one major theme in an address by the 14th Dalai Lama to the European Parliament on Wednesday.
more »
Although the European Parliament is now much more powerful than when it was first directly elected in 1979, voter turnout for elections has declined steadily, reaching a new low in 2004.
more »
The free tours are run by Sandemans New Europe - set up in 2004 by Chris Sandeman, who chose tourism over his family's traditional sherry business.
more »
Eighteen months after it began work, Parliament's Temporary Committee on Climate Change called for an 80% cut in greenhouse gases by 2050, binding interim targets to improve energy efficiency 20% by 2020 and incentives to encourage everyone to do their bit.
more »
Israeli experts are using good old mathematical models to give a face in a photo the ideal characteristics in just a few mouse clicks.
more »