It’s the new craze sweeping social media around the world – divorce selfies… Yes, you read it correctly. Gone are the days of announcing your separation through dinner parties or the family Christmas update email. Simply grab your smart phone, turn on “selfie mode”, take a happy snap and upload it to Facebook.

This modern day trend may seem a bit ridiculous, but it highlights a really important message – divorce doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. A positive and amicable divorce not only makes things easier for yourself and your spouse, it is almost crucial for your children in helping them adjust to the new circumstances.

The idea all began with Shannon and Chris from Canada. They had both decided that their marriage was coming to an end, and while this was certainly not something to celebrate, the way they handled their divorce definitely was. They kept in mind that their children were of upmost importance and they didn’t want their separation to greatly affect them.

Captioning the “selfie”, Shannon wrote the following:

 “Here’s Chris Neuman and I yesterday after filing for divorce! But we’re smiling?! Yep, we’re kooky like that. Are we smiling because the partner we chose for forever turned out not to be the forever partner we needed? Of course not. We’re smiling because we have done something extraordinary (we think anyway!).

We have respectfully, thoughtfully and honourably ended our marriage in a way that will allow us to go forward as parenting partners for our children, the perfect reason that this always WAS meant to be, so they will never have to choose. They’ll never have to wonder which side of the auditorium to run to after their Christmas concert or spring play, because we’ll be sitting together. They won’t have to struggle with their own wedding planning because we’ll be sitting on the same side of the aisle – THEIR side.

We have struggled, but we have succeeded in the plan we came up with together, to come out on the other side as their two parents who live in two houses who give them two teams to love them up two times as much. And now that you know it’s possible – please consider our way if you find yourself on this road, or share our message if we can help remind them that it’s possible to love your kids more than you hate/distrust/dislike your ex (which we have felt at times on the journey but for the record we do actually like each other). Nice work ‪#‎teamneuman ‪#‎divorceselfie”.

Read the full article at The Age: https://goo.gl/047Sq0

Now while this may seem like a fairy-tale way to end a marriage, at MELCA we understand that it is not always that easy to just push aside your negative feelings and emotions. This is where a collaborative separation through MELCA can help. Our team of lawyers, financial planners and psychologists will assist you and your family to work through your emotions in order to come to an appropriate legal and financial outcome for your family.

Please feel free to contact MELCA to find out how a collaborative separation may help your family.