Divorce is ungodly expensive, as will be all the therapy you'll have to enlist to cope with the emotional trauma you sustain in the process, because why pay thousands of dollars to divorce when you could just break up like normal people? But you didn't think about that and now you need to consciously uncouple on the cheap. Enter: Separate.us, the divorce app that just debuted at TechCrunch Disrupt SF.
The app's developers surmised that, while there are plenty of apps designed to help you find love, there are virtually no apps available to help you cancel that love when the time comes. While there are a few other so-called "divorce apps" on the market, designed to help you navigate complicated legal documents without the expensive attorney retainer, Separate.us is markedly cheaper.
WeVorce can take care of your soured marriage for around $10,000, and CompleteCase can do it for $299. But Separate.us claims it can streamline your divorce process for just $99. Where does that money go exactly? Mostly to demystifying legal paperwork and translating it into laymen's terms, so that couples can fill it out themselves instead of hiring an expensive divorce lawyer to do it for them. For now, the app is only available in California under private beta testing, and couples must first fill out a questionnaire to determine whether they're even eligible to use the app. But developers are hoping to launch it nationwide, and, if it takes off, even offer other types of legal services with it.
Until Separate.us can help you finance your divorce on the cheap, here are eight other apps that can help with the logistical and emotional stress of your impending contractual breakup.
1. Divorce Coping Tip Of The Day
Self-explanatory, this app by the author of Poetry of Divorce for Women and Diary of Divorce provides daily validation and affirmations based on common divorce woes.
2. 2Houses
Ideal for co-parenting assistance, 2Houses helps parents manage kids' schedules, expenses, doctors' appointments, and more, without the tension of face-to-face confrontation, while keeping both parties accountable with a log of communication.
3. Our Family Wizard
Another helpful co-parenting app, Our Family Wizard vows to end "he said/she said" arguments and keep clear communication records. You can even sync up the app with your individual lawyers to keep them apprised of expenses and other interactions between you and your ex.
4. iSplit
iSplit helps you assign dollar values to all your assets, and then calculates them to ensure that you and your spouse are receiving a fair and equitable (to you) divvying of property. It also offers a visual representation of your assets, which you can move around between you and your spouse, or "park" them, if you can't yet agree on to whom they should go.
5. DivorceLog
DivorceLog helps you keep track of child support, alimony, expenses, custody calendars, time spent with children, and it can also be used by lawyers or psychologists as a record that can help with divorce proceedings.
6. Mindfulness Meditation
And once organizing your worldly possessions, finances, and schedules causes you debilitating stress, try using Mindfulness Meditation to help you check back in with your body, be present, feel happier, and reduce stress.
7. Stop, Breathe, And Think
Another meditation guidance app, Stop, Breathe, and Think offers meditation timers, guided meditations, and progress-trackers for your work. It aims to help "deepen your awareness of your thoughts and emotions and recognize those feelings in others, settle yourself down and proactively manage your emotions and reactions, [and] approach people and everyday situations from the perspective of kindness and compassion."
8. Toolbox Coping Cards
Borrowing techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Positive Psychology, Toolbox Coping Cards is an app that can help you identify your emotions and provide effective ways of managing them, through healthy coping techniques and better self-awareness.
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