The Conservative Fantasy History Of Civil Rights
Leslie Odom Jr.: We Are Not All Artists the Same
Nearly 10 years into my (very happy) marriage, I know very little about divorce attorneys, and hope I never find out more. But even I know that in addition to being emotionally taxing, the process of getting divorced itself can be very expensive.
Forbes.com says the average cost of a divorce in the United States ranges from $15,000 to $30,000. Most of this goes directly to divorce attorneys, who make fortunes off other peoples' misery. And unlike many legal proceedings and lawsuits, divorce attorneys demand their money whether you win or you lose. In short, a man could get raked over the proverbial coals in court and still have a staggering bill awaiting him, just to add insult to injury -- unlike other types of law suits in which lawyers only get paid if you win. It is, to say the least, cheaper to keep her.
Of course, with the economy in its current sad state, fewer and fewer unhappily married people are finding the funds necessary to get rid of each other. And lawyers' fees aside, the simple cost of living apart while you try to get rid of a spouse is also prohibitive. So what can one do if your husband's getting on your last nerves, but you're too broke to leave? A new, innovative form of divorce financing might help you roll out before you catch a case:
Michelle Pont and her husband amassed millions of dollars in properties and investments from a freight-hauling business that they started with a single stake-bed truck in 1991. They bought a four-bedroom home, then a second home, a vacation home, a motor home and half a dozen cars.
But when Ms. Pont decided to seek a divorce last year, she quickly ran out of money. She had no job. Her husband controlled the family's investments. A few months of legal bills maxed out her credit cards and drained her retirement account.
She wrestled with accepting a smaller settlement than she considered fair. Then a lawyer referred her to Balance Point Divorce Funding, a new Beverly Hills lender that offers to cover the cost of breaking up - paying a lawyer, searching for hidden assets, maintaining a lifestyle - in exchange for a share of the winnings. In October, Balance Point agreed to invest more than $200,000 in Ms. Pont's case.
With some in the financial world willing to bet on almost anything, it should be no surprise that a few would see the potential to profit from the often contentious and emotional process of ending a marriage.
Lawsuit lenders initially focused on personal injury cases, but over time they have sought new frontiers, including securities fraud cases brought by disgruntled investors, whistle blower claims against corporations and property development disputes.
Divorce cases may be a promising niche for lenders because costs can mount quickly - some top lawyers in Los Angeles charge more than $500 an hour - and because state laws uniformly require plaintiffs to pay lawyers upfront, rather than promising them a contingency fee, or a share of any winnings, as is common in other civil cases.
The state laws were written to make people think twice before pursuing a divorce.
In all fairness, the divorce cases mentioned in this article involve very wealthy couples, typically with several million dollars in marital assets. I doubt any firm is going to finance such a case if the guy (or lady) being sued works at Sizzler. This is, after all, about money. Eff' the institution of marriage, or good taste for that matter. Still, it's a pretty sad sign of the times when you can actually get a loan to help end your marriage. But from the standpoint of a financial investment, it does certainly appear to be one of the safer investment vehicles out there.
Questions:
-Do you think it's ethical for companies to fund investments in return for a share of the "profit" -- in this case a divorce settlement?
-Should the laws be changed so that lawyers are able to take a percentage of the "winnings" in divorce proceedings, as they are in other types of legal disputes?
Leave your questions below!
Jay Anderson is a freelance writer from Washington, DC, whose work has been featured in the Washington Post and on NPR. When he's not busy talking smack here, he runs the award-winning blog AverageBro.com. Follow him via Twitter @AverageBro.
Comments: (6)
Add a comment
By: Jun on 12/08/2010 5:39PM
I didn't know that divorce attorneys have to get paid regardless as to whether or not your case is won or lost. How unfair, but understandable. The only experience with lawyers that I have is with bad credit auto loans. So this was new and interesting to me..
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: ooozzzzz on 12/08/2010 11:47PM
Expensive divorce - Property, custody and support.
The best way to get rich.
Divorce is not the latest investment vehicle but has been an investment vehicle, especially for ex-wives, especially White women of rich and wealthy men for decades. It just that now Black women and men have recently within the last decade has jumped on the "get rich quick" divorce band wagon.
Many women (and men) who have no skill sets; a lack of education or education but never worked, have small careers or mimimim wage jobs. low salaried jobs and/or coupled with children and being a single or a single parent, purposely put love and devotion on the back burner, seek out and target men and women who are successful, wealthy, rich and famous in order to improve their lives money wise and materialistic while fooling their significant throughout the entire marriage that they truly love them knowing that the money is what they really love about him or her.
No money, most women would not even give them thm time of day and the moen would only want the sex.
The have the babies or he gets her pregeant, act fully invested in the marriage, use sex to keep them happy and nourished sexually while in the back of their minds, know full well that they will, after spending the adequate amount of time in the marriage per marriage laws will find a reason to divorce their significant other nowing that the courrts will benefit them.
Easiest way for a woman to get rich is to divorce.
Steps:
(1) Seduce a wealthy or rich man, or if not possible, a professional to marry her.
(2) Seduce him in order to have sex with her, and give birth to a few children
(3) Do not work. Stay at home in the name of "supporting family"
(4) Do or do not have affairs with other men - does not matter in outcome.
(5) Wait about 5 years after marriage, about in his peak earning age (i.e. 35-45 yrs old) and seek divorce.
(6) Claim unable to find a job due to all these years of staying at home supporting family
(7) Now divorce court will gives her all the children, alimony, child support, more than half of his assets, including 401(K) & IRA accounts - even she may be the one who cheats or she's abusive, or he's laid off and can't find job or he does get a new job but pay is 30% lower in next 20 years
(8) She will get the money, obtain or buy a new house and enjoy rest of her life.
(9) His life is ruined. Men are only victims of evolutional force, who pay huge price for propagating offspring, totally controlled by biochemistry.
Just consider all the examples and the end results:
**Jerry Hall divorced Mick Jagger - 25 million.
**Diedra Douglas divorced Michael Douglas - 45 million.
**Linda Hamilton divorced director James Cameron - 50 million.
**Paul McCarthy (Beatles) wife divorced him - 50 million.
**Michael Jordan wife divorced him - 150 million.
**Actor Harrison Ford's divorce from Melissa Mathison; estimated at $118 million
**Madonna's divorce from Guy Ritchie; she paid an estimated $90 million.
**Donald Trump's divorce from Ivana Trump; estimated at $25 million.
**Lionel Richie's divorce from Diane Richie; estimated at $20 million
**Steven Spilberg wife, Amy Irving divorced him - 100 million.
**Kevin Costner & Cindy Silva -- $80 million
**Businessman Rupert Murdoch (who own Fox News) & Anna Murdoch -- her cut: $1.7 billion
**Shaq - gave up multi-millions.
Countless NBA, NFL, MLB players, music and Hollywood entertainers, rich businessmen have all been victimes of this game of deception and illusion by these gold diggers and grifters who are only in it for the marriage for the money and it's so evident with all the divorces among all these different categories with the term "irreconcilable differences" being the catch phrase for any and everyhthing that goes wrong in the marriage.
And gettin rich does not only apply for the immediate rich but the monthly riches of child support and alimoney checks that many recieve after divorce every month and annually for years down the road.
My sincere advice to men (and women) is, save you hard earn money and invest in your hobby instead of "the other". After all, why marry the cow and get the cow pregeant (or let the bull get you pregeant) when the pasture is green and full of single, childless cows and bulls...and just don't get the cow pregeant. No baby, no responsibility and you can just simply walk away.
And no matter how terrific sex is, it's always the reason for the ruins of the marriage in the end.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Tee on 12/09/2010 11:06AM
Wow, bitter much? LOL
Report This
By: ooozzzzz on 12/09/2010 7:03PM
Never bitter. Not at all.
It's just experience.
Just sharing knowledge & giving a basic education to the young, inexperienced and uneducated who need to know what selfish & predatory people, both male and female, do.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Shady_Grady on 12/10/2010 7:28AM
This is ridiculous. As article states divorce lawyers are not supposed to be able to take cases on contingency basis, which is what this it.
The entire rotten structure needs to be torn apart and something new built in its place.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Dee on 12/10/2010 5:58PM
How about when your husband's been unemployed for 3yrs and you've been paying all the bills.
And the a**hole consults a lawyer for spousal support out of a $60,000 a year hard working woman, who is still putting children through college. You don't have to be a million,or billionarie for people to ungrateful or trifling.
Reply to this Comment | Report This