A Mexican law firm has initiated a campaign offering divorce gift cards.
In a professed effort to make the divorce process appear less costly, less complex, and less bureaucratic, the Mexican firm, Abogados Postulantes en Sociedad, began marketing its “Libera Divorce Pass.”
The pass can be purchased by friends, family, or parties to a prospective divorce. The minimum purchase for a card is 200 pesos, or roughly $15.43 in United States currency. The gift cards can be applied to a final bill for legal services.
In synch with the launch of the Libera Pass, Abogados Postulantes unveiled an online divorce service. Gift cards can be applied online. In order to initiate a divorce, users must load their accounts with at least 5,000 pesos, or roughly $385.69 in U.S. currency.
The system is built around an “express divorce,” which was authorized by the Mexican government. The divorce process takes approximately 3 to 4 months.
The campaign is designed to reduce the difficulty and fear involved with visiting a traditional law firm by allowing people to use the web-based system.
In the United States, there are a number of companies that offer Internet-based document preparation of divorce forms, however, the ethical rules to which attorneys are bound make a net-based attorney’s operations, and the issuance of gift cards purchased by third parties, very difficult.
Many law firms are, however, increasingly mechanizing operations and shifting into an e-environment. There are also a large number of courts around the country that allow for electronic document filing. So it may be only a matter of time before U.S. attorneys offer services like those of Abogados Postulantes.