This is not a joke: ‘divorce hotels’ are a thing

Have you ever heard of a “divorce hotel?” It’s about as simple as it sounds: an unhappy couples checks into a hotel for a weekend and, during the course of that weekend, they are able to finalize their divorce with some advisers. All it will cost you is thousands of dollars just to stay at the hotel, and possibly your chance at the divorce that you want (or arguably deserve).

We bring up the divorce hotel because a current program is under way between a hotel in New York and a company in Netherlands that specializes in divorce hotels. They are working together to expand the idea here in the United States. Who knows — maybe divorce hotels really will help out people in need of ending their marriage.

But we have two issues with the divorce hotel. First, having to finalize every detail in a divorce over one weekend seems very difficult. Maybe the divorce hotel caters only to couples who have hammered out many of the more complex details in their divorce before staying at the hotel. If not, we would caution people from every considering these hotels. Child custody, prenuptial agreements, property division: these are all very complex matters that require attention, detail and time to ultimately solve.

The other issue here is that since there is not much time to complete your divorce at one of these hotels, this divorce process could create new issues — both legally and personally. If you do ever consider a divorce hotel, make sure you read the fine print, and make sure you are prepared for what’s ahead.

Source: Huffington Post, “‘Divorce Hotel’ Provides A Quick Getaway… From Your Awful Marriage,” Brittany Wong, Sept. 12, 2014