Don't be fooled by Laura Wasser's title as a celebrity divorce lawyer. She may represent the likes of Kim Kardashian and Kelly Clarkson but she's a force in her own right. Wasser isn't looking to be anything but herself while promoting positive change within the divorce process.
Can we get an Amen?
Staff writer Naomi Fry recently interviewed Wasser for The New Yorker. The article Life Lessons From Laura Wasser, Divorce Lawyer to the Stars. is a finely executed dialogue between a skilled journalist and a well-known lawyer.
The article explains Wasser's endeavor with Divorce.com.
"In 2018, Wasser founded It’s Over Easy, an online divorce service. Earlier this year the venture was bought by Divorce.com, which has also named Wasser its “chief of divorce evolution.” Whether in her dealings with her celebrity clients, or in her role facilitating digital divorces for the common man, she’s concerned, she told me, with “the evolution of dissolution,” or how to make divorce, if not completely painless, then a bit less painful for all parties involved. “I want to normalize it a little,” she said. “It’s happening, and we need to make it better.”"
Sweeter words were never spoken.
I've spent a decade in the counseling and research of love, relationships, and divorce. As a journalist, I now primarily write about these topics. My hope has been to incentivize awareness and change. No child should endure a five-year divorce process.
As a stay-at-home mother, I became financially vulnerable.
This allowed a man to use money as a weapon.
It's an abusive tactic long exercised in the divorce community. The reason it survives is that it works for those who yield it. The legal system must address this type of abuse. No amount of writing will correct the course. It will take professionals within the industry to demand it.
Wasser's phrase offers hope.
"The evolution of dissolution."
As does her willingness to contemporize the divorce experience.
And to discourage angry spouses from utilizing children and money as hostages. One person shouldn't have all of the power in a relationship nor should they in divorce.
I've written extensively about the financial complexities of my divorce in my divorce column and elsewhere. I was trusting throughout the years of our marital difficulties. At that time, money was siphoned from a business we built in our twenties and the income was lowered. In divorce, financial abuse is most common among the self-employed. It makes sense because they can manipulate and lower income by writing off inventive expenses. Our retirement and savings accounts were drained.
In my case, no stone was left unturned.
Not only was every dollar hidden but my credit was ruined. This was a two-fold strategy. It made the divorcing spouse who was claiming they were 'broke' more believable. It also leaves an individual with zero ability to pay for legal expenses without borrowing money from a family member.
Wasser seeks to lower the overwhelming expense of marital dissolution with Divorce.com. The following are Wasser's own words in Life Lessons From Laura Wasser, Divorce Lawyer to the Stars.
Staff Writer Naomi Fry's question:
You’re the chief of divorce evolution for Divorce.com. What does that mean?
Laura Wasser's response:
"There are two reasons why it’s so hard to get divorced. First is that we, divorce attorneys, make a ton of money by spouting all these code sections and ta-da-da-da-da. But the other reason is that the founding fathers didn’t want people to get divorced. It was sacrilegious, and if you were a divorced woman in society in the eighteen-hundreds you were pelted with rocks or whatever. But that’s not the case anymore, and if you look at the statistics, how can it still be so taboo? How can it still be so difficult to do?"
Can we get another Amen?
The shame associated with divorce is antiquated, misplaced, and judgmental. It impacts not only divorcing individuals but their children. Most people don't choose divorce. It's the unfortunate result of exhausting all of their options. The relationship is no longer working and has become unhealthy.
It's not the right environment for any human being, especially children.
In The New Yorker article Wasser demonstrates her focus on children.
"Bunches of people come to me, when I speak at law schools, too, and tell me, My parents went through such an acrimonious divorce. And I say, O.K., let’s start there. Didn’t that suck for you? So that’s the first thing, watching what our folks have done before us and either wanting to be like them—because my parents had the best, most civil, respectful relationship—or not wanting to, and doing it differently. Everybody who comes in here and has kids says, My kids are the most important thing, and then they immediately pull out their financial statements and start talking about how much money they’re either gonna get or give. [Laughs.] And I go, Let’s get back to your kids for a minute. I think you rise above."
Laura Wasser is my new hero.
The divorce industry is prime for disruption.
Check out the full interview Life Lessons From Laura Wasser, Divorce Lawyer to the Stars.
Comments / 2