The GOP would no doubt argue that divorce is something that needs to be disrupted -- but maybe not in the Silicon Valley sense of the word. Too bad. Thanks to a new app called Wevorce, those looking to part with their spouses can do so without so much of the mess, pain and financial strain that traditionally comes with divorce. The start-up is meant to streamline divorce proceedings by putting most of the paperwork, often one of the most tedious and costly parts of a legal breakup, online. Couples rely on a single attorney (a "Wevorce Architect") to help them map out the split, and are expected to pay a flat fee upfront.
The company has already raised $1.7 million in funding, but according to VentureBeat, Wevorce is looking to raise $1.3 million more. That's a whole lot of start-up money, but it will probably go to good use: approximately 40 to 50 percent of U.S. married couples divorce, according to the American Psychological Association. If the goal of the app is to help as many divorcing couples as possible, then Wevorce is going to need all the money it can get.
What's perhaps most interesting about the app is its focus not only on making life easier for divorcing couples, but on keeping their families intact as much as possible. According to Wevorce's website, its divorce process is "family focused" while traditional divorce is "asset focused," and the latter point is certainly true. But it's fascinating that an app -- which allows breakups to happen in the cloud and relies not on face-to-face communication between mediators and couples but, rather, on the Internet -- might be more effective at helping people continue to treat each other like people when they're quite possibly at their most vindictive. The Internet doesn't tend to make people more civil -- just take a gander at any comments section or make a few swipes on Tinder. Is it really possible that this app can really help disintegrating partnerships end amicably? Or is divorce just bound to be generally terrible no matter where you do it -- an attorney's office or online?
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