When your marriage is on its way out, it’s only natural to want to end things as quickly and efficiently as possible. You want to move on with your life and move past the hurt of your relationship ending. You may even feel desperate to get out.
The issue is that when you’re desperate, you’re more willing to throw money at a problem to make it go away. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs know that and are all too willing to take advantage of you. This has led to the rise of online divorce services that claim to help you get divorced the easy way.
Unfortunately, these services are rarely good investments. Keep reading to learn what these websites provide, why they’re not ideal for most people who need to end their marriages, and better ways to get divorced without throwing away time or money on a scam.
What Is an Online Divorce Service?
An online divorce service is a website or business that promises to help you end your marriage permanently, entirely online. They claim to help you handle the administrative work of filing for divorce and guide you through the process of splitting up without the inconvenience of meeting people in person.
It makes sense that services like these would start to pop up as people become comfortable handling more important tasks digitally. Especially with the pandemic, digital divorce services have begun advertising themselves on everything from billboards to social media sites. However, these services aren’t the best way to end your marriage. In fact, they may even be scams.
Are Online Divorce Services Scams?
In many cases, yes, websites that promise you a fast online split are little more than scams. It’s important to note that online divorce services aren’t typically scams in the sense that they don’t lead to legitimate divorces. Most of these websites will help you get a legally binding divorce.
However, they are scams in another sense. They are charging you for services that you could accomplish on your own or that should only be performed by an experienced attorney.
There are fundamentally two kinds of divorces: uncontested and contested. An uncontested divorce is where you and your partner agree on how everything should be split. Meanwhile, contested divorces involve arguments about handling things like asset division and child support.
There are issues with digital divorce providers, no matter which kind of split you’re getting. If you’re going through an uncontested breakup, they claim that they can make your split go smoothly and occur entirely online. However, most of what they provide is nothing but a digital guide on how to file for divorce by yourself. Every state offers free online resources to help you do just that. The provider is charging you for something already available for free.
If you’re entering a contested divorce, these providers are even worse. An online provider doesn’t have the nuance or the experience to help you handle a contested split. These programs don’t have the empathy or flexibility to help you get a genuinely fair outcome, and many don’t support contested splits at all.
Other Problems with Online Divorce Services
There are more issues with the average online divorce service. Compared to genuine legal representation, these services are:
- Overpriced: One of the big claims of these services is that they can save you money in your split. However, they charge hundreds or thousands of dollars to guide you through uncontested splits that you could accomplish with free resources from your state.
- Unable to handle unique problems: When you’re working with an online program, you’re not getting the personalized attention and focus that you’d get from a real, live lawyer. If there’s something unusual about your split, the program probably doesn’t have a way to handle it. At best, you’ll need to spend more time and money to get personal service from the provider, and at worst, you’ll have to scrap the process and start over.
- Not always able to prevent you from going to court: If there’s something about your split that doesn’t fit into the digital program, you’ll probably have to go to court no matter what. For instance, if you and your spouse have children, you’ll almost certainly need to go to court if you disagree about parenting schedules. If you contest anything halfway through the process, you might find everything you’ve paid to the service is wasted when you have to get legal help anyway.
Essentially, online divorce websites are little better than an informal consultation and a guide that you can find elsewhere at no cost. Whether you’re getting a contested or uncontested divorce, there are better options.
Solutions for a Quick and Convenient Divorce
No matter what’s going on with your divorce, connecting with an actual attorney will help you figure out the right path. If you’re going to face complications such as disputed assets in a high net worth split, legal help is even more critical. Trained lawyers will help you resolve these complications quickly, efficiently, and without wasting money on unqualified online divorce services.
You can even get the same convenience offered by online divorce platforms if you choose the right attorney. Modern technology means that you can experience the speed of digital communication combined with the in-depth knowledge provided by a trained lawyer. Today, law firms offer digital communication that’s as easy to use as instant messaging, so you can talk whenever something comes up.
Get the Legal Help You Need from the Very Beginning
Don’t waste time on scammy, overpriced online services. You can connect with trained attorneys with decades of experience by reaching out to the team at Kaspar & Lugay, LLP. You can chat with a real person online, email them to set up a consultation, or call 24/7 to learn more. Get legal representation that knows what they’re doing today.
