Nolo Press Occidental

Self-help Books & Software – Solutions for Divorce

(800) 464-5502
About | Support | View Cart | My Account
  • Home
  • Divorce Solutions (by State)
    • All Solutions
    • California Divorce Solutions
    • Divorce Solutions in All States
    • Contact
  • Books
    • All Divorce Books
    • Make Any Divorce Better!
    • How To Do Your Own Divorce In California
    • How to Get a Fast California Divorce
    • Books Alerts & Updates
    • Contact
  • Software
    • All Divorce Software
    • DealMaker Settlement Agreement Software
    • DealMaker Pro
    • CalSupport: Child and Spousal Support Calculator
    • CalSupport Pro
    • Software Alerts & Updates
    • Contact
  • Forms
    • All Divorce Forms
    • Divorce Worksheets
    • California Promissory Note & Real Estate Form Sets
    • Forms Alerts & Updates
    • Contact
  • Blog
    • Contact
  • Reading Room
    • Contact
  • FAQ
    • Contact

Baldwin-Basinger: Victims of the Legal System

Legal system fails families at time of great need

Divorce specialist attorney Ed Sherman has seen cases like the highly acrimonious Alec Baldwin-Kim Basinger custody battle many times over in his long career and observes, “I don’t know Alec Baldwin or Kim Basinger, but I do know our legal system intimately, so I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Baldwin-Basinger tragedy is a high-profile example of something that happens hundreds of times every day to people who have no headline value.

What we are witnessing, with the media in full cry, is the failure of a legal system that still thinks we are in the Middle Ages. What we are seeing is something that didn’t have to happen, that probably would not have happened if we had a legal system that made sense.”

Sherman explains that in our “adversarial” system, courts are a forum where people are expected to fight—it’s designed that way! It started in the Middle Ages with trial by combat, where men with a disagreement would fight violently before a representative of the king and he who walked away was “right.” Today, physical force is no longer an approved legal tactic but, otherwise, things haven’t changed much. The parties are still regarded as adversaries—enemies in combat, competing to win.

In modern usage, you get a hired gun—an attorney—to do battle for you and you sign a retainer agreement where the more trouble you have the more money your attorney makes. Can you guess how that works out?

In a divorce, attorneys for each side compete, argue and struggle against one another (on your behalf) and use up all of your emotional and financial resources trying to “win” your case, to “beat” the opposition. You and your children spend years living in a hellish war-zone. The rules of professional conduct require an attorney to be aggressive, because we think that’s a good thing. But it isn’t. It produces rich attorneys and tragedies like the Baldwin-Basinger family, every day by the hundreds.

In a sane universe, people who are breaking up would be guided through a non-adversarial process of conciliation, encouraged to step back, take a breath and think about what’s best for the kids, what’s fair, what makes sense. You would work with trained mediators and negotiators rather than litigators. But no, that would make sense.

“Let’s use this sad case as a reason to take a very close look at how we force families in crisis into a system that is guaranteed to make things more difficult for troubled families that are ground through it, where there are no solutions, only more problems, where intolerable pressure brings out the worst in people, which is exactly what happened to the Baldwin-Basinger family,” says Sherman. “Let’s have a little sympathy for them and some scorn for the system that failed them as it has failed all families in crisis for generations gone by.”

“My life’s work has been to help people avoid unnecessary pain and expense when going through a break up, which starts with finding ways to avoid being represented by an attorney and staying as far as possible from our dysfunctional legal system. I dream of a day when my services are no longer required,” Sherman says.

CREDENTIALS: Ed Sherman is a divorce specialist attorney and award-winning author of How to Do Your Own Divorce in California – the book that launched Nolo Press and self-help law in 1971. He has since authored several publications that explain how to obtain a divorce in an easy-to-understand format, including Make Any Divorce Better. He also launched Divorce Helpline. His books and software have saved millions of people billions of dollars in unnecessary attorney fees, not to mention unnecessary pain, by helping them get better divorces – yet his firm does not take cases, represent anyone or go to court. For more information, visit https://nolotech.com/.

About Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Author Marketing Experts, Inc. is a full service book marketing and promotion company. AME is the only marketing and publicity firm to harness the Internet to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour (TM), which strategically works with social networking sites, blogs, ezines, and relevant sites to push an author’s message into the virtual community. For more information, visit www.amarketingexpert.com.

Categories: Divorce With Children Involved

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We would love to hear from you, but please be aware that we can’t give personal legal advice through our website.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Divorce Checklist

Free Divorce Checklist

Don't overlook important details! This Divorce Checklist is full of items that are vital to a successful outcome in your divorce.

Your information is completely private. No one else will see or use your email or information. We use it only to send you the most relevant & useful information.

Fast California Divorce

Books

Make Any Divorce Better

$24.95

Discount Price

$18.71

Tell Me More
How to Do Your Own Divorce in California

$29.95

Discount Price

$19.95

Tell Me More
How to Do Your Own Divorce in Texas

$29.95

Discount Price

$22.46

Tell Me More

To do your own divorce in other states, click here.

If you want personal advice or assistance, click here.

Subscribe to blog posts via email

Receive our blog posts in your email for free! Click here to subscribe.

Categories

  • After The Divorce Is Done
  • Awards and Accolades
  • Before You Decide To Divorce
  • Child Support
  • Divorce & Attorneys
  • Divorce & Domestic Violence
  • Divorce & Finances
  • Divorce & Retirement Plans
  • Divorce Mediation
  • Divorce With Children Involved
  • Divorce With Property Involved
  • Do Your Own Divorce
  • During The Divorce Process
  • Excerpts From Books By Ed Sherman
  • General
  • Links to Useful Information
  • Press Releases
  • Reading Room
  • Texas Divorces
  • Tip Sheets & Checklists
  • Tips For Legal Professionals
↑ Back to Top
(800) 464-5502  •  (831) 466-9922
Contact
HONESTe Seal - Click to verify before you buy!
Nolo Press Occidental
2604 El Camino Real, Ste 353B
Carlsbad, CA 92008
  • Alerts / Updates
  • Tech Support
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Press Room
  • Reading Room
  • About The Author
  • Divorce Helpline
  • Our Guarantee
  • Testimonials
  • Free Divorce Checklist
  • Get Listed In Our Directory
Privacy Policy
Website Design by Vertical Rail | ©2012-2023 Nolo Press Occidental. All Rights Reserved.