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Can AI replace divorce lawyers? Marriage has no friction, but divorce is high friction. Made impossibly expensive and time consuming because of the cartel of di

Can AI replace divorce lawyers? Marriage has no friction, but divorce is high friction. Made impossibly expensive and time consuming because of the cartel of divorce industry.

ghshephard 14d ago
AI will likely replace divorce lawyers (or, at least make existing divorce lawyers much more efficient) - for non-contested divorces that are amicable. Roughly 95% of what a divorce lawyer does in that context is entirely automatable.
- byzantinegene 14d ago
  amicable divorces are like 5% of all divorces, so there's not much to be won there
  - Aramgutang 14d ago
    You may have misread that statistic, it's exactly the opposite: around 5% divorces are not resolved amicably and proceed to be litigated in court.
- mountainb 13d ago
  A template document and some software already does it without an LLM. Advising the clients on what it means and what they have to do is unfortunately something AI assistants are bad at. But this use case is not an expensive use case for family lawyers; court systems already try to make this type of settlement accessible to pro se people.
rayiner 14d ago
There are hundreds if not thousands of divorce lawyers. How is it a “cartel?” Divorce is expensive because divorces are acrimonious and people in that situation would rather spend the assets fucking each other over than letting the other person get them.
- thelastgallon 14d ago
  Divorce is expensive because it is big bucks for the lawyers and family court cartel. They have a vested interest in not changing the laws. When laws are made fair, and the perverse incentives to divorce are lessened, divorce rates plunge. However, divorce lawyers lobby against these laws. Kentucky became the first state to pass a law making equally shared custody the default arrangement in divorces and separations. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/the-equal-custody-experiment-41e1f7a6 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/the-equal-custody-experiment...: Divorce Plunged in Kentucky. Equal Custody for Fathers Is a Big Reason Why.
  - rayiner 14d ago
    "Cartel" has a meaning. Explain how either of those things is a cartel?
- eloisant 14d ago
  In France many divorces are uncontested, but you're still require to use a lawyer (the same for both spouses). On the other hand most couples with kids are not married, so the separation doesn't require a lawyer...
  - rayiner 13d ago
    In Maryland you fill out a form settlement agreement, pay $185 filing fee to the court, and attend a hearing that’s usually online.
samtp 14d ago
"Marriage has no friction" is only something that could be written by someone who was never married.
- alehlopeh 14d ago
  He clearly meant getting married has no friction, while getting out of a marriage has quite a bit. Presumably there’s friction in the marriage otherwise why would they get divorced.
w10-1 14d ago
> Made impossibly expensive huh? Many/most are no-fault jurisdictions with strict rules on dividing community property. Divorce is easy and cheap, unless it's hard to find assets.
wise_young_man 14d ago
There’s an argument to be made if divorce was easier than more people might get married when they are less serious. My view though is make it harder to get married and easier to get divorced.
altmanaltman 14d ago
> the cartel of divorce industry So like a group of lawyers among the "divorce industry" who set prices for divorce and stuff? or wtf do you mean?
consensus1 14d ago
It's not just the divorce lawyers. We have 3x as many lawyers per capita in the US as in the 1970s. The system is designed by lawyers for lawyers. They will create more bureaucracy and more procedure to consume any surplus.
phyzix5761 14d ago
Divorce is extremely cheap if you both agree on everything. Its literally one of the options on the divorce filing. You just pay the court fees. The problem is both parties rarely agree on everything and that's when it gets expensive.

Can AI replace divorce lawyers? Marriage has no friction, but divorce is high friction. Made impossibly expensive and time consuming because of the cartel of divorce industry.

ghshephard 14d ago

AI will likely replace divorce lawyers (or, at least make existing divorce lawyers much more efficient) - for non-contested divorces that are amicable. Roughly 95% of what a divorce lawyer does in that context is entirely automatable.

byzantinegene 14d ago
amicable divorces are like 5% of all divorces, so there's not much to be won there
- Aramgutang 14d ago
  You may have misread that statistic, it's exactly the opposite: around 5% divorces are not resolved amicably and proceed to be litigated in court.
mountainb 13d ago
A template document and some software already does it without an LLM. Advising the clients on what it means and what they have to do is unfortunately something AI assistants are bad at. But this use case is not an expensive use case for family lawyers; court systems already try to make this type of settlement accessible to pro se people.

rayiner 14d ago

There are hundreds if not thousands of divorce lawyers. How is it a “cartel?” Divorce is expensive because divorces are acrimonious and people in that situation would rather spend the assets fucking each other over than letting the other person get them.

thelastgallon 14d ago
Divorce is expensive because it is big bucks for the lawyers and family court cartel. They have a vested interest in not changing the laws. When laws are made fair, and the perverse incentives to divorce are lessened, divorce rates plunge. However, divorce lawyers lobby against these laws. Kentucky became the first state to pass a law making equally shared custody the default arrangement in divorces and separations. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/the-equal-custody-experiment-41e1f7a6 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/the-equal-custody-experiment...: Divorce Plunged in Kentucky. Equal Custody for Fathers Is a Big Reason Why.
- rayiner 14d ago
  "Cartel" has a meaning. Explain how either of those things is a cartel?
eloisant 14d ago
In France many divorces are uncontested, but you're still require to use a lawyer (the same for both spouses). On the other hand most couples with kids are not married, so the separation doesn't require a lawyer...
- rayiner 13d ago
  In Maryland you fill out a form settlement agreement, pay $185 filing fee to the court, and attend a hearing that’s usually online.

samtp 14d ago

"Marriage has no friction" is only something that could be written by someone who was never married.

alehlopeh 14d ago
He clearly meant getting married has no friction, while getting out of a marriage has quite a bit. Presumably there’s friction in the marriage otherwise why would they get divorced.

w10-1 14d ago

> Made impossibly expensive huh? Many/most are no-fault jurisdictions with strict rules on dividing community property. Divorce is easy and cheap, unless it's hard to find assets.

wise_young_man 14d ago

There’s an argument to be made if divorce was easier than more people might get married when they are less serious. My view though is make it harder to get married and easier to get divorced.

altmanaltman 14d ago

> the cartel of divorce industry So like a group of lawyers among the "divorce industry" who set prices for divorce and stuff? or wtf do you mean?

consensus1 14d ago

It's not just the divorce lawyers. We have 3x as many lawyers per capita in the US as in the 1970s. The system is designed by lawyers for lawyers. They will create more bureaucracy and more procedure to consume any surplus.

phyzix5761 14d ago

Divorce is extremely cheap if you both agree on everything. Its literally one of the options on the divorce filing. You just pay the court fees. The problem is both parties rarely agree on everything and that's when it gets expensive.