The doyennes of divorce
Karen Stewart’s divorce was, in her own words, “gruelling.” The process dragged on for more than five years and cost her $500,000 in legal fees. “You’d think when you spend that amount of money, you’d be happy with the outcome,” she says. Instead, the end of Stewart’s eight-year marriage spawned only bitterness and anger that spilled over onto her kids and created a rift with her ex-husband that exists to this day. Despite her strong financial background — Stewart co-owned a stock brokerage at the time — she says, “I couldn’t add one-plus-one in my own divorce case.”
The experience prompted the 48-year-old Calgary mother of three to wonder if others were equally disillusioned with the traditional dog-eat-dog approach to divorce. “Was I just a bitter divorced woman who spent tons of money, or were there other people out there like me?” A market research firm she hired to assess possible business opportunities confirmed her hunch that she was not alone. “I would say 95 per cent of the people who embark on a divorce will say the same thing: ‘I want to have a great relationship with my children. I want to make sure I’m not a bag lady or living in a basement apartment. If at all possible, I’d like to have a decent relationship with my ex.’ And yet the traditional divorce is not very good at meeting those needs.”
In 2006, she launched the first Fairway Divorce Solutions office, and three years later she had a multi-million-dollar business. But that was simply a drop in the bucket, considering her estimate that the divorce industry in North America is worth at least $20 billion annually. “I knew from day one I wanted to go big,” Stewart says. She created a training program and business model for franchisees and sold her first franchise in 2008. She now has 39 of them in Canada and the United States, and aims for 240 in North America within the next two years. Then she plans to take Fairway overseas, with the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Australia first on the list, saying, “I would like to see this become at least a $50 million business.”
The experience prompted the 48-year-old Calgary mother of three to wonder if others were equally disillusioned with the traditional dog-eat-dog approach to divorce. “Was I just a bitter divorced woman who spent tons of money, or were there other people out there like me?” A market research firm she hired to assess possible business opportunities confirmed her hunch that she was not alone. “I would say 95 per cent of the people who embark on a divorce will say the same thing: ‘I want to have a great relationship with my children. I want to make sure I’m not a bag lady or living in a basement apartment. If at all possible, I’d like to have a decent relationship with my ex.’ And yet the traditional divorce is not very good at meeting those needs.”
A new business opportunity
Stewart saw a market niche. She took a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA) course, then emailed her stock brokerage clients to inform them she would be offering divorce financial consulting. “Within two weeks, my phone started ringing,” she says. She soon developed a model for a fixed-fee, negotiated resolution process to get couples to the end point of their marriages faster, more cheaply and with a lot less sparring.In 2006, she launched the first Fairway Divorce Solutions office, and three years later she had a multi-million-dollar business. But that was simply a drop in the bucket, considering her estimate that the divorce industry in North America is worth at least $20 billion annually. “I knew from day one I wanted to go big,” Stewart says. She created a training program and business model for franchisees and sold her first franchise in 2008. She now has 39 of them in Canada and the United States, and aims for 240 in North America within the next two years. Then she plans to take Fairway overseas, with the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Australia first on the list, saying, “I would like to see this become at least a $50 million business.”
