Originally aired on January 14, 2008.
Tom Fudge: In California, it's pretty easy to get divorced. You don't need to prove that someone was at fault. We also have what's called "unilateral" divorce, meaning it only takes one member of the couple to call it quits. But when there are children involved, or when there's a lot of money involved, it's almost never really easy. The ones that are really tough, the ones that go before a judge or mediator, are called high conflict divorces. Typically, those involve children. Most of the time they involve one partner who is either chemically dependent or who has what psychologists call a “personality disorder,” like narcissism or anti-social behavior.
These divorces are painful and they put children in a terrible position, but they have to be worked out, too. They require a different approach than the ones that can be settled just by two people getting together and coming to a semi-rational agreement.
Guests
- Mahshid Fashandi, marriage and family therapist who went through a high-conflict divorce.
-
Brook Olsen ,
director of the
High Conflict Diversion Program
.
- Janet Bowermaster , law professor at California Western School of Law .
