Divorce Story

No walls were harmed in the making of this podcast. Screenshot via Netflix

A divorce lawyer winds up representing herself. And a couple tries to plan ahead in case they hate each other someday.

January tends to be a busy month for divorce lawyers.

“This is, so far, the busiest month of my career,” said attorney Beatrice Leong. Why? “New Year’s resolution, probably,” Leong said. “You know, you lose weight, lose your kind of bum spouse.”

Usually when people get married it represents a contract between two people to begin operating as a unit. That new reality affects decisions made every single day: where you live, what you do with your money, your career decisions. If that contract falls apart, things get really complicated, really fast.

That’s what we’re talking about on our first new show of the year. Leong takes us inside her own years-in-the-making divorce — where she represented herself. And we meet a couple who got an education in prenuptial agreements. They aren’t just for the rich and famous, but that doesn’t make it any less weird to haggle with someone you love over money you don’t even have yet.

By the way, we want to keep exploring marriage and money throughout this year. So if you have a story about how money has worked (or not worked) in your marriage, drop us a line with the form below or email uncomfortable@marketplace.org

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Correction (Jan. 31, 2020): An earlier version of this story misstated the length of time before Beatrice Leong filed for divorce and the number of books Erin Lowry published. The audio has been corrected.