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
The use of animals in scientific experiments could soon be reduced by new legislation, approved by the Agriculture Committee on Monday, which strives to strike the right balance between improving animal welfare and assisting research against diseases.
more »
EU holidaymakers travelling by plane or train are protected by a whole range of consumer rights.
more »
The European Commission welcomes the European Parliament voting in favour of a regulation on rights of passengers travelling by sea and by inland waterways.
more »
Mobile phones, computers, TVs - we like them but where do they go when we are finished with them? In the worst case they can be dismantled by hand for scrap by children in developing countries.
more »
Following the death of President Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, on 28 June Lithuanian Embassies abroad opened the door for people, who want to sign the Condolence Book.
more »
Passengers will enjoy easier access to information about their rights when travelling by rail or air thanks to a Europe-wide publicity campaign in 23 languages launched by the European Commission today.
more »
Lithuania has been grieved by the heartbreaking news about the decease of Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas, former President, Prime Minister, Signatory to the Act of Independence, and the first Head of State of Lithuania after the Restoration of Independence.
more »
We have lost a warm person and a prominent politician who had been at the wheel of state at challenging and difficult stages in the history of Lithuania.
more »
Europe's financial and economic crisis is increasingly becoming a social crisis too, and is testing European solidarity to the limit.
more »
In a move to enforce a style of dress they believe is in accordance with sharia law, the authorities in the Muslim Indonesian province of West Aceh are handing out long skirts to women wearing tight pants.
more »