29th November marks the start of Good Divorce Week 2021, a campaign by Resolution to highlight this issue; so I decided to survey friends and colleagues for their thoughts on what this means.
I asked them to desrcibe in a word what a bad divorce looks like and they said:
- Stressful
- Bruising
- Confrontational
- Expensive
- Demoralising
- Toxic
- Acrimonious
- Lengthy
You would not wish this on anyone, would you? If there are children involved they can be exposed to real, lasting harm by a bad divorce. There is a real cost to children, to parting spouses and to society generally. This is why Resolution campaigns for a better way and is making tools like their “Parenting through Seaparation Guide” freely available to download. Solicitors and other professionals want to help clients achieve a good divorce. What is that, again in a word:
- Amicable
- Co-operative
- Considerate
- Cost-effective
- Empowering
- Respect
- Closure
Nobody I met ever wanted a bad divorce, they don’t come in saying “I’d like a bitter and protracted divorce that demolishes my finances and leaves my children needing therapy for years”. They do say they want an amicable divorce, they do want solutions and they do need to be helped towards lasting co-parenting and closure. Society, professionals and organisations like Resolution want to give them the tools to make that possible.
