Arndt: ‘Average’ divorces are the target
The co-founder of a divorce service which puts clients directly in touch with family law judges has said it aims to be a legal services “Uber for financial remedies”.
Karen Arndt, co-founder of Whatwouldajudgesay.com, described financial remedies as “by far the most contentious part” of most divorces.
She said the service enabled clients to ask ‘what will our finances look like after this divorce?’ and get a judge’s answer within six weeks.
Clients were “very surprised” by the ease with which they could obtain an opinion on the likely financial outcome of their divorce from a barrister who is also a deputy judge or private financial dispute resolution (FDR) judge”.
Ms Arndt said Whatwouldajudgesay.com, which is not a law firm, operates in partnership with York-based Paradigm Family Law, which is.
Clients complete a financial disclosure form which goes to a solicitor at Paradigm, who briefs a barrister who is also a judge. The opinion is then discussed by the clients with the solicitor.
The service offers two packages: A judge’s opinion package for £5,000, or a judge’s opinion plus all the paperwork needed to complete the divorce for £6,500.
Ms Ardnt, a marketing and communications specialist, said she founded the site last year with Rupert Whitehead, a former manager at Google, and Frank Arndt, her husband and the founder of Paradigm Family Law. Mr Arndt is a qualified lawyer and judge in Germany.
Ms Ardnt’s ex-husband, Maarten Albarda, a Dutch marketing and communications specialist now based in the USA, is the chair of whatwouldajudgesay.com. Evelyn Peacock, legal director of Paradigm, provides administrative support.
The co-founders are the main shareholders in the startup. Ms Ardnt said external funding “had not been ruled out as a possibility”.
Since the public launch at the start of this year, she said 25 clients had been through the process, some on discounted rates.
They were mainly couples with an “amicable” approach to divorce but included somebody who was “deep in litigation” and “wanted a fresh pair of eyes” to look at the case, and also referrals from law firms that have no family law department.
Ms Ardnt said the service had also been approached by independent financial advisers.
The service was aimed at the “average divorce”, rather than high net-worth cases.
The areas covered are financial remedy for married couples on separation or divorce, advice for individuals seeking guidance on divorce-related financial settlements, financial provision for children with parents who are not legally married, and property ownership disputes for cohabiting non-married couples.
Ms Arndt said clients had made it clear that they were “not yet ready for a computer to decide how they split their assets on divorce”, but it would become “key” to the future.
She would like to reduce the price of the service from the minimum £5,000 for the judge-led service, and this could mean introducing a “digital judge” developed with artificial intelligence.
With the technology still hallucinating and inaccurate, it was not yet “fit for purpose”, but she hoped a digital judge could be introduced “at some stage”, as long as its output was “checked by judges”.
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