That’s when she decided to do something about the traditional divorce system. Miles, 44, has invented a new way to handle divorce, a system she calls Fairway. Since coming up with the process, she’s transformed her financial management business into one that handles divorce cases full time. Working from her Calgary office with a small team, she says she’s swamped with clients.
Miles is one of two certified divorce financial analysts in Calgary, and one of about 80 in Canada. On May 1, she opened the doors to her new business, Fairway Divorce Solutions. The certified analysts usually assist lawyers and their clients in making sense of the financial implications — such as tax consequences and asset division — of a proposed divorce settlement. Miles says she is unique because her Fairway system essentially eliminates the need for lawyers. That is, until independent attorneys are brought in at the end of Miles’s process to write the contract. “I’m not anti-lawyers,” she says. “Clearly, there’s always going to be a need for lawyers, especially for files that need to litigate. I’m just saying I believe that it’s time for an alternative.”
Miles brings a couple together at the beginning to agree upon ground rules, and then separates them for the rest of the process. She moves them through a series of steps, gaining consensus along the way. The first step is coming up with the couple’s financial pie. Once assets and their values are agreed upon, they begin to split the assets. As the financial issues are being dealt with, Miles hosts a seminar called Transitions, which is designed to give clients communication tools to help them parent post-divorce. The issue of children is left until the end, once the money has been taken care of. Once people know they will be taken care of financially, Miles says, their fear tends to dissipate. “When the fear starts to subside,” she says, “they can start to take a step back. Then we would move on to the parenting issue.” Once everything has been agreed upon, Miles and her team write a hefty document outlining the agreement. The lawyers work from that document to come up with a contract. The entire process is designed to be as quick and painless for everyone in the family. “Our whole model is based on saving the children,” she says. “That’s my mission.” On average, Miles charges between $6,000 and $10,000 to move a couple through Fairway in 120 days; that’s fast, considering an average divorce takes one to two years.
“By not going through our divorce sooner, it wore our children down,” says Christina Davis, a 56-year-old purchasing specialist in the information technology industry. She put off hiring a lawyer for about five years because she couldn’t afford the fees. Last year, Davis contacted Miles, and with her help, obtained a divorce Feb. 1. In total, Davis paid about $4,000. (Miles’s rates have since gone up.) “Karen’s approach is to keep as much money in the couple’s pockets as possible,” says Davis.
While Miles’s process can be cheaper than going the lawyer route, would-be clients should know there is homework involved. “You have to be prepared to do a lot of the work yourself,” says Davis. “You have to get all the information and you have to be meticulous. I pulled together my complete financial package.” But for Davis, the work was worth it. She and her husband moved through the Fairway system in a matter of months. Moving quickly is important, not only to minimize the emotional costs to the family, but also to minimize the financial toll.
Miles says people often don’t realize that besides mounting legal fees, personal assets become almost frozen during divorce proceedings. For example, if there’s a business involved, the owner sometimes isn’t allowed to buy new equipment or get new partners. “Assets tend to deplete,” she says. “People tend to lose track of that. I’ve seen situations where the markets are crashing and they can’t sell stocks because the other lawyer said, ‘You’re frozen.’ ”
Miles may be focused on helping fellow Calgarians today, but she hopes to expand the venture soon. “Our plans for expansion across Canada are aggressive,” she says. Regardless of the approach people choose for their divorce, she says they need to remember one thing: “There is a win-win in divorce. Divorce is not a bad word.”
This fall, Miles is hoping to self-publish a book called Clean Break: How to End Your Marriage Without Wrecking Your Life.
For more information, contact Fairway Divorce Solutions at 269-9700 or see the web site at www.fairwaydivorce.com to receive a free CD outlining the benefits of the Fairway process.
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