Introducing The Dignified Divorcee

“She left me and the children after having an affair, now I’m fighting for what’s rightfully ours...”

Whilst everyone’s situation is different, it is inevitable that separation means change and with this, opportunities for partners to exhibit unexpected behaviours with sometimes damaging consequences. 

It is always preferable to seek a non-adversarial approach to resolving differences and the Family team at SA Law are here to solve problems and seek mutually agreeable resolutions. However, when a negotiated solution can’t be found, the team are a formidable force in Court and will fight for our client’s best interests each and every time.

To demonstrate our approach, we have created a fictional persona called Paul Applegate. Paul is a reserved family man who has discovered his wife’s affair and regretfully realised that he has to call time on his marriage and start divorce proceedings. We have chosen to share some of the advice and guidance that we would offer to Paul as he navigates the divorce process and battles with his ex-partner over money and property to ensure that he and his family receive a fair split of assets to support them in the future.

Paul is in a very different situation to our former reluctant divorcee, Dr Rebecca Green. Whilst both characters put their family first and want things to be as fair as possible, Paul is facing the fallout from his wife’s affair, her adversarial nature and subsequent financial difficulties. Struggling to maintain a dignified approach to these dilemmas, Paul finds himself in Court and needing astute support from our team.

Visit to read Paul’s email conversations with his US-based sister and communications with Kiran Beeharry in the SA Law Family team. You can also follow the story via Twitter by searching for the hashtag #DignifiedDivorcee

Meet Paul Applegate, the #DignifiedDivorcee

Paul Applegate and his family are fictional characters created for the purpose of sharing a story about one man’s divorce. The situations faced by Paul are based on a combination of cases handled by the entire SA Law team throughout their legal careers. Any similarity to any one case or person is purely coincidental.

Kiran Beeharry is a real person. He is a father, husband and a Senior Associate at SA Law. The divorce process and guidance that Kiran offers to Paul is factual, based on Paul’s individual situation. If you are contemplating divorce, we strongly recommend that you take personal, bespoke legal advice. 

"This is a filtered view of my life laid out on a computer screen. My emails: from family and friends and my lawyer; my diary; my task list. I don’t have the words to tell you what I’m going through but I can show you so you can see what a huge change I am making in my life. A reluctant change as I was quite happy with my lot."

Click here to visit dignifieddivorcee.com and find out more about what Paul did next. 

You may also be interested in revisiting the award-winning reluctantdivorcee.com to read Rebecca Green's honest account of her experience of divorce. 

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