[ibimage==47667==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]When Michelle Crosby was three years old, her parents got divorced. Six years later, with custody battles still ongoing, nine-year-old Crosby was asked in court which parent she would choose to live with if stranded on a desert island.
That terrible pain is experienced by many families affected by the 1.2 million divorces filed each year, Crosby said, adding that her questioning in court became the catalyst to build a career in family law and try to do something about how divorce is handled.
A graduate of Y Combinator’s winter 2013 class, Wevorce is a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup founded by Crosby that helps families stay out of court and settle amicably. It achieves that through a five-step process, web-based technology, and a community of certified Wevorce Associates — professionals in related fields such as counseling, finance and real estate.
According to Crosby, Wevorce, which expanded to Chicago on May 18, has worked with more than 300 families. In 2014, its first full year of operation, Wevorce kept 100 percent of families out of court. So far in 2015, Wevorce maintains a 98 percent settlement rate.
“When you turn a divorce situation — which is a very family-sensitive area — into a legal problem, you get what I call legal nonsense and chaos for families,” Crosby said. “We’ve created a model that helps families through it, rather than dragging families through a very reactive process.”
Wevorce applies neuroscience and a sense of collaboration to each case, which results in a service that is at once high tech and high touch. According to Crosby, Wevorce assesses individuals and assigns one of 18 divorce archetypes to them. For example, who is the initiator in the divorce and who is the reactor? Discerning that will determine how quickly one is ready to move along through the 5-step process, with reactors typically needing more time to absorb the change.
Furthermore, Wevorce automates paperwork, predicts legal costs, and connects families with related professionals when they are ready — a process that saves families money. According to Crosby, Wevorce predicts steps to settlement and cost of fees with 97 percent accuracy.
Wevorce charges divorce experts $199 per month to be on the platform and work with families. Professionals in other industries — such as real estate — can join the referral network for $39 per month, Crosby said. Additionally, Wevorce takes a transaction fee each time a family opens a new case on its website. The startup says its costs are one third of the national average for divorce — $27,000 — and it says it has saved families more than $4 million in legal fees.
With 12 employees strong, Crosby, who also serves as CEO, said Wevorce is focused on educating families and showing them there is a way to divorce amicably, saving those involved from more emotional and financial pain. She said Wevorce, which has raised more than $2 million in seed money, is working hard to build its network of divorce experts.
The company has four Chicago-area lawyers in the Wevorce community — Jill Daniels, Kathryn Engle, Joseph Emmerth, and J. Richard Kulerski. Crosby said Wevorce hit its Q1 goal of 250 divorce experts one month ahead of schedule. Still, with a divorce being filed every 13 seconds, Crosby knows there is much work to be done as Wevorce heads toward its goal of navigating 13,000 divorces annually.
“In order to continue growing Wevorce, we need this community of divorce experts bringing their master trade,” Crosby said. “Again, we say we’re high tech, but we can be high touch. We need these masters of trade that are familiar with the dynamics in each community and each state that we are in to really help connect and bring Wevorce to life for families.”
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