11/02/2026
In a world of AI and easily accessible online “lived experience” advice, more people navigating separation are tempted to skip professional support to save money.
I understand why. Separation is financially and emotionally stressful and the strain of the cost of living is being deeply felt.
But here’s the reality: relying on AI and online advice alone can be incredibly risky when you:
- don’t feed it the right information;
- know the right questions to ask; or
- understand where the blind spots lie.
Not to mention it is often incomplete, misleading or simply incorrect.
Just today, a colleague shared an recent account of DIY financial consent orders that came across their desk after resulting in around $40,000 in avoidable tax consequences. Professional advice could have prevented this outcome for a fraction of that cost.
I’ve also seen clients receive emails clearly written by AI, filled with legal threats and pressure, that the sender hadn’t even properly read themselves.
In one case, a calm, collaborative response I supported my client to deliver in response to such, revealed that the sender hadn’t intended half of what was written and did not understand the implications as it was written in AI legalese.
Thankfully, crisis was averted in that instance, but for others it could have lead to high conflict and court rooms unnecessarily, at profound cost to all.
When nervous systems are activated, as they often are during separation, people are far more likely to react impulsively like this, outsource communication, and make decisions they later regret.
And don’t even get me started on the misinformation circulating in online groups and social media 😬
With powerful tools like AI and mixed-quality advice everywhere, it’s more important than ever to pause, get informed properly, and seek the right support even for decisions that feel “small”, like sending an email about selling or refinancing a home.
