(508) 753-6778
Plymouth Uncontested Divorce Conciliation and Mediation
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WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG IF YOU DO IT YOURSELF OR USE AN INEXPERIENCED MEDIATOR?

As much as I’d love to publish a book with all of the “war” stories I’ve accumulated, I’d be much happier if none of these real-life horror stories had ever happened.

A good portion of my 26-year career has been spent trying to undo the messes people got themselves in by trying to do their own divorces or trying to take matters into their own hands that should have been left to professionals.

Rob

Rob was an educated, well-off executive who decided he could do his own divorce by taking his friend’s divorce agreement and adapting it to his own situation.  Because the agreement is a legal contract which contains legal terms and provisions that most people, no matter how smart they are, wouldn’t understand the meaning and potential implications of, Rob included provisions he didn’t understand, didn’t intend, and which contradicted other parts of the agreement.  He came to me after the fact and we had to go to court over and over again to try to enforce the agreement that didn’t really say what he had intended.  Had he come to me in the first place, he could have avoided almost all of those trips to court.

Rachel

Rachel and her husband were in the middle of a contested divorce. They both had lawyers but decided they could agree on their own to sell their house and divide the profit. They decided that Rachel would get 2/3 of the profit so she could afford to buy another house without a mortgage because she had never worked outside the home and couldn’t qualify for a mortgage on her own. They were unable to settle the other issues and ended up going to trial. The judge decided that the profit from their house should have been divided equally and so he ordered Rachel to pay her husband $75,000.00 within thirty days and put a mortgage on her house in case she didn’t pay. Well of course Rachel couldn’t pay the money and her now ex-husband didn’t pursue it. Some years later, however, her ex-husband had to file bankruptcy and the bankruptcy trustee decided to collect that $75,000.00 debt. Rachel almost lost her house and, in the end, had to take out a mortgage to pay the money to her ex-husband’s creditors.

Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann had been divorced for a few years. Her son was over 18 and her teenage daughter did not have a very good relationship with her father and hadn’t seen him in some time. Jo-Ann had sole custody of her daughter and decided that it would be beneficial for her and her daughter to move to North Carolina where she would have a better job and be able to provide a better quality of life for her daughter. Because she had sole custody she didn’t think she needed her ex-husband’s permission to move. When her ex-husband found out she had moved, he asked the Court to find her in contempt (violation) saying that her move violated their divorce agreement and the law. The Judge ordered her to move back to Massachusetts with the child where she didn’t have a home, a job or any means to support herself and her daughter. By the time she came to me, the only thing left that I could do for her was to file an appeal. The appeal was expensive and time consuming but, in the end, the appellate court ruled that she and her daughter could stay in North Carolina.

Dave

Dave and his spouse went to a local mediator to help them reach an agreement and file their joint petition. Dave agreed that he would provide the health insurance for the couple’s children. The mediator worded their agreement to provide that Dave will be responsible for all “health care” which has a very different meaning than “health insurance”. Now Dave is on the hook for co-payments, deductibles, braces…Yup. That’s what can go wrong.

This is why DIY is NGI* (*not a good idea)

Contact me!

CONTACT

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(508) 753-6778
DIYDivorcePlymouth@gmail.com
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“Taking the Nasty Out of Divorce”
Serving Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes,  Nantucket, Bristol, Norfolk, Middlesex, Hampden, and Worcester Counties

ADDRESS

18 Main Street Ext – Suite 404
Plymouth, MA 02360

Our Satellite Locations:

Hyannis:
100 Independence Drive Suite 7
Hyannis, MA 02601

Worcester:
405 Grove St #204
Worcester, MA 01605

Boston:
287 Auburn Street
Newton (Auburndale), MA 02466

Springfield:
75 Market Street – Suite 347
Springfield, MA 01103

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