Imagine there’s no lawyers

Imagine there’s no lawyers. It’s easy if you try. … Legendary Beatle John Lennon is famous for his advocacy of peace, harmony and goodwill. But few people know he extended this philosophy to his views on divorce.

When people decide to get divorced, quite often they decide amicably. But then when they can’t speak to each other without a lawyer, then there’s no communication. And it’s really lawyers that make divorces nasty.

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Interviewed by David Wiggs in 1971 John Lennon likened the Beatles break up to a family separation. On top of lots of other complicated troubles he said “It’s really lawyers that make divorces nasty”.

You know, if there was a nice ceremony like getting married, for divorce, then it would be much better. … But it always gets nasty because you have to talk in double-dutch, you have to spend all your time with a lawyer, and you get frustrated, and you end up saying and doing things that you wouldn’t really do under normal circumstances.

John Lennon, David Wiggs interview 1971

Over fifty years ago, was John Lennon right? What and who can support families to separate better than adversarial lawyers do?

… Read on for more on the Beatles story.