Coronavirus and couple: in quarantine there were only 341 divorces in the City but they expect a boom when the isolation ends

Emilia Vexler

07/04/2020 - 15:56

• Clarín.com
• Society

For love there is no face mask. There is no Ministry of Relations. Nor are there daily parts of how many couples are still together, how many have separated or how many are "in intensive care." According to popular belief, relationships - those of two people - go through a severe crisis in the seventh year. Perhaps the "itch" is now "100 days into quarantine."

In times of coronavirus, in most jurisdictions courts only function with fair clearance. That translates, for example, that from March to June there were only 341 divorces registered in the City , when in the same period of 2019 the figure amounted to 2,094. But it is a matter of judicial "obstacles".

Both Family judges, as well as lawyers and psychologists interviewed by Clarín  agree that there will be a boom in post-isolation separations .

Is that of Marcelo Tinelli and Guillermina Valdés the tip of the iceberg of quarantined love ties? The "divorce expert" Ana Rosenfeld -who was in all the assets divisions of the driver of the Dancing-, was called "more women than before the quarantine" . Court statistics also show that many more couples do not plan to stay afloat.

"Quarantine was the trigger for making these decisions. Not everyone had in mind to separate or divorce. But living together, 24 hours, 7 days a week ... something produced. This brake in the routine made many think about how they continue their lives. Several people leaned towards the 'pucha, life is one.' Or 'if I get out of this I want to live it with everything.' And maybe whoever is next to them is not the chosen person In the past, couple crises occurred in round numbers: at 40, at 60, and men perhaps wanted to date someone 20 years younger. Today the pandemic was a bonding crisis, regardless of age, "he points out. Rosenfeld to this newspaper.

Ana Rosenfeld, "expert in divorces", with the Civil Code, in her apartment in Le Parc.

According to a study from the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Buenos Aires published in mid-June, couples were also affected by the quarantine: there are more fights and less intimacy . And women, after 80 days of isolation, felt more affected than men.

Is it a good time to get divorced? In the case of large businessmen or businesswomen, "it is not ideal," says Tinelli's neighbor in Torre Le Parc. Nor for those who are several floors below that purchasing power.

"It is not the same to receive half as much, as before, what time to be watching the bankruptcy, bankruptcy or closing of the business (according to each wallet) that you carried out with another person for so many years. Imagine if the couple was with a gastronomic medium term or the owner of an SME, "says the lawyer. 

But, in addition, with the social, preventive and obligatory isolation, it is not "an express procedure" like before achieving a divorce. And a hot spot is the cohabitants - as is the case of Tinelli and Guillermina, an 8-year relationship without a red book and with a son - who only have 6 months to legally demand economically, from day 1 of the separation in fact.

"As we are within the organizations that provide essential activities, divorces that enter by either paper or electronic format continue to be registered. And the latter depends on whether the intervening court uses the DEOX platform (Electronic Processing of Trades to External Organizations, exclusive to manage communications in the judicial processes) of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, to which we have adhered more than a year ago, "explains Clarín Facundo Bargallo, general director of the Buenos Aires Civil Registry. This explains why six times fewer divorces were registered in the City than in 2019.

When divorce is "by mutual agreement" there are no major drawbacks. The vast majority were initiated in these months of isolation with a proposal agreed between both parties, so the judicial process is simple. After the intervention of the Ombudsman for Minors in the event of agreements regarding minor children, the sentence is passed, the parties notify each other and then the sentence is entered in the registry through the electronic system.

Divorce by WhatsApp

When only one wants to get divorced, it gets complicated. The judicial system imposes the cycle of asking for divorce-presenting a proposal to the ex-partner to divide what they have in common-waiting for acceptance / rejection or, in turn, for the other party to formulate their own proposal. 

"Usually this notification is made through a certificate (on paper, through a notifying officer). In this particular context, in some cases notification has been enabled through WhatsApp , provided that there is certainty that the cell phone corresponds to the person you are trying to notify. The deadline was also made more flexible so that the party that did not start the process can respond and, where appropriate, formulate its regulation. Because they have to have the advice of a lawyer and appear in the file with their legal sponsorship, that is what may have some difficulty in a pandemic, " Gabriela Vero, national judge of the Family of the City , explains to Clarín .

In any of the cases, the demand, the proposal, the accompanying documentation and the decision of the court must be submitted. But, regardless of the property issue, what comes out yes or yes, when notified, is divorce. Still in quarantine.

José Cárdenas is a lawyer specialized in Family Law and clarifies why on WhatsApp it is not enough with the blue marks. "Because the notification and the right of defense must be ensured, so this procedure may vary depending on the Court , which decides whether to enable the fair (if it is processed) or not. But whoever receives the notification cannot oppose the divorce, he only answers. With his answer, the judge pronounces the sentence and is notified, now digitally, "he maintains.

Rosenfeld says that none of the men he wrote to on WhatsApp - because the message, a template PDF, which cannot be modified, should be sent by the lawyers - "could have given it to him without notifying him." It is that a request is made (by way of declaration) that the number belongs to the other party or is certified by calling that number, and is credited with screenshot of the number, files sent and received.

The peak of divorces

From mid-April until today, 260 divorces were initiated in the National Civil Appeals Chamber. And between May 11 and June 5, 112 were by email . "The number of beginnings at present is not updated yet, but I am convinced that it has increased," says Myriam Cataldi, national judge of the Buenos Aires Family.

So, the peak of divorces  will come later, suddenly, because people want to separate and because it will be easier to do so? For Gabriel Cartaña, an expert couples psychologist, the only thing clear is the desire to separate after isolation .

"There is going to be a boom in separations. But there are two types of couples. Couples who live together, and who perhaps are wearing out the relationship because they were only together for a few hours before. Those who do not live, on the other hand, will separate because they were wrong but they believed that they could not deal with the absence of the other person, the quarantine forced them to be separated and they realized that they can ", he affirms. Meanwhile, Justice was oiling the way to make the separations easier as the isolation spread.

"The Family Law in the Province is practically working normally. We digitized before the City. And in a pandemic this helped a lot. The Civil Code provides for the existence of a conciliatory hearing, yes. But the procedure is the same. Even if both parties do not agree with the proposal that each one makes, the sentence is drawn the same: there is a divorce. It is what people want and, in addition, lawyers need the sentence to collect their fees, "says Estela Morano, judge Family in Province.

Its court, No. 2 in Lanús, is just five years old. That is why, unlike what happens in Courts, she walks through corridors that are not riddled with files shelled by moisture. 50% of the causes go directly into digital format. That, in times of coronavirus, makes a difference. Also in divorces.

In fact, the reception in most of the Buenosairean courts just opened last week. But the requests "came in" the same. On-line. The procedure is the same as in Capital. But, in addition, in the Lanús court, which covers a large number of jurisdictions, the "commandment office for urgent procedures" was also set up. From there the "physical" proceedings of the judges are made to the parties that cannot be located from the cell phone.

"Since not everyone has to have a smartphone to receive a WhatsApp and the other party does not have to wait for someone to be notified, as long as the urgency warrants it, and so decided, the notification can be made at home, "explains Morano.

What are those cases? To set a food quota for children or adolescents, which is immediate, it can be done through WhatsApp. Not so if there is a lawsuit between parents. This must be resolved in person.

A matter of days ago that the provincial Justice enabled the possibility of using Microsoft Team to hold pre-divorce conciliation hearings. As of this writing, it has not yet happened. The divorce (for now) is not because of Zoom. But it can come through WhatsApp.

ACE