HOW JUNO GOT IT WRONG...

During a recent appearance on the San Diego Living@ TV program, Certified Family Law Specialist Garrison “Bud” Klueck shared some thoughts on what a very popular movie’s script said about divorce and why the filmmakers did not get it quite right.

QUESTION - Certified Family Law Specialist Garrison Klueck would like to discuss a popular recent movie’s portrayal of divorce and how the filmmakers got it kind of wrong. Which movie are you talking about?

ATTORNEY KLUECK ANSWER - the movie is titled “Juno” and it just passed “Sideways” as the highest-grossing indie film in movie history. For those of you who have not seen it, the main plot line involves a very bright and funny 16-year-old girl who becomes pregnant. She decides against having the baby aborted and instead, will be permitting the baby to be adopted by this kind of yuppie couple who really want a child. Well, about eight months into the pregnancy, the husband announces that he is leaving his wife and wants a divorce. As an attorney who handles divorces, and all other areas of family law, my ears perked up when the movie characters started to talk about their divorce. Of course, from my perspective, as a legal specialist, the film folk got it all wrong.

QUESTION - Do you find most movie discussion of family law subjects accurate?

ATTORNEY KLUECK ANSWER - No, in fact, this situation falls into “Klueck’s Ironclad Rule.” Klueck’s Ironclad Rule says that the more that a viewer knows about how a situation is handled in real life, the less that movie or TV portrayals of that same subject will be believable. We can more easily believe that movies and TV are being accurate about activities that we don’t know much about. But when the viewer knows a lot about a given subject, the movie or TV version of that subject will seem all wrong.

QUESTION - What was wrong about what the characters said in “Juno?”

ATTORNEY KLUECKS ANSWER - Early in the film we are introduced to an attorney who draws up the paperwork for the adoption of the teenager’s baby by the yuppie couple. Later on in the film, when the husband says he wants a divorce, he tells the wife that he has already talked to this same attorney and “she can represent us both in a process called collaborative divorce, it’s all the rage.” Wrongo—Bongo! That’s just not correct.

QUESTION - Isn’t Collaborative Divorce “all the rage?”

ATTORNEY KLUECKS ANSWER - Collaborative Divorce is popular and becoming more popular. The part of what the husband said that I have real trouble with is not the popularity of Collaborative Divorce, but the notion of the one attorney “representing” both spouses. That can never be the case. There is an obvious conflict of interest. The answer to a lot of questions about the law is, “it depends.” But, this is not one of those situations! One attorney can never represent both spouses in a divorce. Sometimes, I am the only professional in the room with both spouses, but that is when I am acting as a mediator. When I am acting as a mediator, I am there as a neutral and I specifically do not represent either spouse.

QUESTION - How would you, as a collaborative professional, describe how the collaborative process actually works?”

ATTORNEY KLUECKS ANSWER - Collaborative Divorce is essentially a team approach. The team consists of five or six professionals. Unlike what the “Juno” script says, each party has their own attorney. Husband has his attorney and wife has her attorney. Each party also has their own mental health professional who serves as their “divorce coach.” These people may also be therapists, in other areas of their practice, but divorce coaching is much more concentrated and focused. The focus is to get the person through the divorce process in one psycho-emotional piece. The process teaches the party to communicate better with the other spouse and to deal specifically with divorce-related issues. If you want to delve into childhood traumas, that may be appropriate--but it is done elsewhere. Divorce coaching is much more focused on the immediate here-and-now of what is happening during the divorce.

QUESTION - In addition to the two attorneys and two divorce coaches, who are the other professionals on the team?

ATTORNEY KLUECKS ANSWER - Where there is a minor child or children, the team would include a “child’s specialist.” The child’s specialist is a specially-trained mental health professional who helps the child or children process what is happening to them as their family is re-forming itself, Additionally, the child’s specialist brings the child or children’s concerns “to the table” when the grown-ups are negotiating. This aspect is a big advantage over the traditional litigated model because, although a child’s world is being greatly affected by the parent’s divorce, they ordinarily have no say in the process itself. In Collaborative Divorce they do have a say through the child’s specialist.

QUESTION - Who is the sixth and final member of the Collaborative Divorce Team?

ATTORNEY KLUECKS ANSWER - The last professional on the team provides an element that clients in the collaborative process often find most appealing. That is the joint financial specialist. You know that the so-called “financial pie” has not gotten any bigger, although it is now expected to support two households. There needs to be immediate, short-term planning, medium-term planning and long-term planning. The couple that has been planning to grow old and retire together is not going to do that now. In addition, financial language can be even more confusing than legal language to a lot of people. The joint financial specialist can go over those weird terms with the clients and explain what they mean.


If you, or someone you know, could benefit from Attorney Klueck’s expertise built up over twenty years, about Collaborative Divorce, or any of the hundreds of other issues in family law cases, you can contact Attorney Klueck at (619) 448-6500 or through his website at www.familylawsandiego.com.