If you have ever been to a speed dating event (or seen one on television), you are probably familiar with the format. Daters sit across from other daters, introduce each other and talk for 10 or 15 minutes, and when the bell rings they move on to the next. At the end of the event, daters tell the coordinators if they want to get to know anyone else further, which potentially leads to additional dates, a relationship, and maybe even marriage.
So how could this speed dating format be applicable to the divorce process? In many ways, according to one Atlanta divorce financial analyst who is hosting the first-ever ‘speed divorcing’ event this month.
During the event, people who are considering or who have filed for divorce will meet with family law professionals such as divorce lawyers, mediators, financial advisors, mortgage brokers, therapists and others, using the traditional speed dating format. This will help divorcing couples find the right people to make up their ‘divorce team,’ hopefully saving them the time, money and stress of hiring the wrong divorce professionals who end up costing them much more in the end.
“I’m trying to help people be smart from the start. I see too many people who don’t understand what they’re getting into,” Decker says. “If you begin your divorce volatile and hire the wrong people you’re likely to end that way as well.”
What do you think? If you have gone through the divorce process, would you have liked to attend a speed divorcing event, or were you able to find a solid divorce team without it?
Source: CNBC, “Speed Divorcing: Like Speed Dating, Only…” Cindy Perman, April 24, 2012