"There are no assets; it's a matter of allocating debts," Gornbein said.
With an unemployment rate topping 9 percent, Michigan has been hard hit by the recession. Couples that had been planning to get divorced are postponing taking action because they can't afford to split up.
And those who have already initiated divorces are fighting over debts rather than assets.
The two major assets in most marriages are homes and 401(k) plans. But many homes are highly leveraged with either no equity or negative equity. And most retirement plans have been pounded by the stock market decline, Gornbein noted.
"I'm meeting with couples who want to be divorced, but can't afford to be, and in some cases are still living together," he commented.
Those who decide to split up despite the economy are fighting over who gets stuck with the house.
"The home used to be the bastion of the American family, and there was a lot of equity in it. So, when you got divorced, we could always sell the house," explained Gary Nickelson, founder of a two-attorney family law firm in Fort Worth, Texas, and president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML).
In the current economy, however, home values are uncertain, and housing sales are stagnant. That makes negotiations over the sale of homes more complicated.
"It's creating some unique problems that I haven't seen since the late 1970s," Nickelson said.
Prominent New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder agreed: "In the average American divorce case, the biggest asset is the home, but now, not only is it diminished in value, but there are some homes you just can't sell. "
Although divorce filings are down, several family law attorneys report an increase in requests by clients to renegotiate existing child support and alimony agreements.
Recession-proof practice?
Child support agreements can generally be amended if a parent loses a job. Alimony agreements, however, are non-modifiable in many states. And that's creating a big problem for unemployed exes.
"People are getting laid off right and left," Gornbein said. "How does someone pay [alimony] and how does someone collect it if the person is unemployed?"
Clients' financial problems are impacting divorce lawyers' billings.
"We're getting hammered in two directions," Gornbein noted. "New business is slow and people aren't paying. "
Other divorce lawyers report similar problems.
"Like any other trade, bills are not being paid," Felder said. "I had a doctor who said he couldn't afford to pay our bill. "
Marlene Moses, a principal at Moses & Townsend in Nashville, Tenn., and president-elect of the AAML, said clients "are being mindful of the amounts of money they spend on legal fees, whether it is in litigation, in negotiation, in settlement conferences or discovery. "
She noted, however, that family law is a practice area that remains in demand no matter how the economy fares.
"There are always going to be family law issues that require legal attention," she said. "Not only are there divorce issues that require legal attention, but you have child custody, support issues, pre- and post-nuptials, relationship issues with family members that aren't your traditional family and, of course, reproductive issues.
"To some extent," she said, "it's recession-proof. "
