Divorce Makes You Poor: Prepaid Legal Services Can Help

Divorce makes you poor. Unless you aren’t in the top 1% of the country that have millions of dollars (and hopefully a good prenuptial agreement), divorce will be costly. It is very expensive to deal with a lawyer on a regular basis. Did you know, that usually every meeting, and even short phone calls to an attorney are things you are billed for? Surely, it is incredibly expensive to get the best overall legal treatment you can. Prepaid legal services can lessen the financial blow.

Imagine yourself in Alexis’ shoes. Alexis, a recently divorced Philadelphia mom in her early 50s with one child in college and one finishing up high school, has been left financially devastated after her divorce. Alexis worked, since high school, as a dental hygienist. While she made a decent middle class living, she certainly depended on her husband’s larger salary (he was a machinist at a local factory) to raise their two children.

After her husband decided to leave, Alexis was left saddled with the family bills while trying to work and raise the children. Though the bills belonged to both Alexis and her husband, his whereabouts were unknown. Alexis had to find a way to pay for all expenses, including bills her husband helped to create, by herself. With the family income split in half, Alexis was forced to work at night as a waitress. The only way to escape her enormous and mounting debt was to divorce her husband. Alas, every attorney Alexis spoke to required a retainer of $3,000 to $5,000. Alexis continues to struggle, and is still legally married. Prepaid legal services could help remove this enormous burden.

Alexis is not alone. Approximately half of marriages end in divorce. In the dental office where Alexis works, she is one of 14 employees. The divorce rate shows that about seven of those married employees will become divorced. Imagine how stressed Alexis and the other divorcees are and will be! With so much weighing on their minds just regarding divorce and the financial and emotional toll it takes, imagine how unproductive the office will be! Would you want to get a root canal there? Not me! Prepaid legal services could have helped Alexis and her office, and many small businesses.

Prepaid legal services provide an affordable option for legal advice. When an employer or individual signs up for prepaid legal services through Countrywide, they are signing up for a legal safety net of credentialed attorneys to be on their side. This network of attorneys is available for unlimited consultation regarding divorce and many other areas for a low cost, rather than a hefty retainer.

By giving prepaid legal services to their employees (which can be made for by both employee and employer, or through voluntary payroll deductions), an employer is offering those in their company a piece of mind. If Countrywide would have been on her side, Alexis could have skipped the second job and freed herself of her husband’s bills -all the while making her family, and her employer and patients, happy. Don’t let divorce rob you of money and your calm: Look to prepaid legal services .