Media Pack
Contact Information
The areas of Family Law that we specialise in:
Financial Remedy – Asset division for divorcing couples.
Individual Advice – Support for those needing a second opinion or clarity.
Child Maintenance – Claims for children of unmarried parents.
Cohabitee Disputes – Property issues for unmarried couples.
Spousal Maintenance – Ongoing or varied support after divorce.
WHO WE ARE
At Whatwouldajudgesay.com, we’ve had enough of the lengthy, costly, and opaque divorce process. Divorce shouldn’t be a drawn-out affair full of hidden costs and uncertainty.
That’s why we’ve created a service that offers couples a clear, straightforward judicial opinion on how their assets should be divided — in just six weeks, for a transparent fixed fee pricing model.
To our knowledge, this is a world first: no other firm offers this service within a guaranteed timeframe—or your money back.
We know three things about divorce: it’s expensive, it’s time-consuming, and it’s hard to understand. Clients often don’t know how much it’s going to cost or how long it will take. That’s why we’ve built Whatwouldajudgesay.com to make divorce simpler, faster, and more affordable.
Clients want outcomes, not processes. They want clarity, not confusion. They want results without the back-and-forth, delays, and spiralling costs that traditionally accompany divorce.
Just six months since launch—and with no external funding or marketing spend, Yorkshire-based legal tech start-up Whatwouldajudgesay.com has been thrust into the spotlight, shortlisted for Best Innovation at the 2025 Modern Law Private Client Awards.
Why We Approach Judges & How They Work?
The traditional divorce process involves lengthy, costly court procedures where access to judges is often limited. But we are different. We provide access to experienced family law judges who, in addition to their public sector work, also operate privately as barristers. These judges work in their private capacity, providing their legal expertise outside of the public family court system.
In collaboration with Paradigm Family Law LLP, our solicitor partner firm, we facilitate this direct access. Judges don’t need to know all the intricate details of the marriage — all they need is joint financial disclosure. With that, they can offer clear, practical advice. This access allows us to provide clients with a judicial opinion on how assets should be divided — fast, fairly, and without the complications of traditional court-based proceedings.
The Hidden Truth in Family Law
Here’s the hidden truth: All law firms have access to judges, but many don’t offer it because it doesn’t generate extra fees. We are making this crucial access available to everyone, allowing clients to get the clarity they deserve, without the delays and cost.
This is more than legal advice. It’s a new approach to separation—led by judges, backed by senior barristers, and aligned with the Ministry of Justice Pre-Action Protocol for financial remedy cases.
This protocol is important and encourages couples to seek early dispute resolution, our platform provides the perfect solution. We offer an impartial, expert opinion that helps settle financial matters efficiently, without the stress and cost of traditional court proceedings.
What Makes Us Different?
Unlike traditional law firms, we offer a fixed-price service that gives clients clarity from the outset. Through simple joint financial disclosure, clients receive a judicial roadmap in just six weeks, answering questions like:
- Will I need to sell the family home?
- How much spousal or child support could I expect, and for how long?
- Should pensions be divided, or would a lump sum be better?
- How does an inheritance impact asset division?
- How would a judge divide the marital estate, and what can I realistically expect from my spouse?
- Are the expectations in my negotiations realistic, or am I wasting time and money?
This clarity is crucial, and unlike traditional law firms that drag cases out for months or even years, Whatwouldajudgesay.com is focused on helping couples resolve their financial matters quickly, with a written opinion from a judge — within six weeks.
Clarity in Weeks, Not Years
Traditional divorce takes 69 weeks and on average couples spend around £44,000 on legal fees (source: Legal Futures). This model is outdated—and change is long overdue.
Our platform delivers a non-binding judge-led opinion in just six weeks. It’s faster, simpler, and far more affordable.
Download here: https://whatwouldajudgesay.com/what-we-do/how-it-works/
How is Client Feedback and Public Response?
The response from the public has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve received enquiries from a wide range of people, not just couples looking for clarity on financial settlements, but also individuals asking how their finances will look post-divorce.
Interestingly, we’ve even had enquiries from law firms without family law departments, as well as clients from as far away as the Cayman Islands.
The demand shows that there’s a real need for a quicker, simpler, and more transparent divorce service.
Traditional Divorce Firms Are Frustrating Clients
In Frank’s blog, “Divorce Services Are Getting Worse, Not Better,” we address the growing frustration with the traditional divorce process. Frank highlights that clients are stuck with legal systems that drag out the process, costing far too much money, and causing unnecessary stress.
He makes a compelling argument that the system is broken, and that people are spending too much of their marital assets on a process that doesn’t need to be this difficult.
We are challenging the status quo. By providing a clear, fixed-price judicial opinion early in the process, we help clients avoid the traditional system’s pitfalls.
The Future of Family Law: Transparency and Clarity
We’re aligning with thought leaders like Richard Susskind KC, who envisions a future where the traditional lawyer-client relationship is disrupted. Clients no longer want lengthy, adversarial processes; they want clear, fast outcomes.
At Whatwouldajudgesay.com, we break divorce down into three clear areas:
- Financial settlement – Determining the division of assets and finances.
- Child arrangements – Deciding where the children will live and establishing a parenting plan.
- Legal formalities – Completing the necessary paperwork to finalise the divorce.
And every lawyer we’ve spoken to agrees; sort out the finances early, and everything else falls into place. That’s why we effectively unbundle family legal services by focussing on resolving financial matters as quickly as possible. Fast. Fair. Affordable.
The Yorkshire Approach: Direct, Easy and No-Nonsense
Based in Yorkshire, we do things differently. We don’t waste time or beat around the bush. We go straight to the source — the judge — and get an honest, expert opinion, delivered quickly and clearly. In Yorkshire, we pride ourselves on being direct, and we’ve brought that spirit to Whatwouldajudgesay.com.
Clients who have used our service are amazed at how simple and fast it is. Six weeks is all it takes, compared to the typical 69 weeks it takes to reach this point in traditional proceedings. We’re changing the game by making the process transparent, straightforward, and affordable.
The Role of AI in Divorce: What’s Next?
MENLO, our AI-driven project, is already in development. While tools like ChatGPT are becoming more sophisticated in analysing legal language, we’re not ready to trust AI with something as critical as dividing assets.
There are significant legal and ethical risks involved in feeding sensitive financial data into an open-source system. But MENLO will complement the work of experienced judges, providing data-backed predictions while ensuring that final decisions are made by human experts.
AI will make the process smarter and more efficient, but human judgment is essential when it comes to something as important as asset division in divorce. Our goal is to strike the perfect balance between AI-driven insights and human expertise — making divorce faster, clearer, and more affordable for everyone.
“AI won’t replace the wisdom of a judge,” said co-founder Rupert Whitehead. “But it can support better outcomes and expand access to justice—by enhancing, not replacing, legal expertise. LawtechUK will transform law in the same way fintech disrupted banks a decade ago to inspire”
What’s Next for Whatwouldajudgesay.com
We’re focused on scaling and bringing our service to more people.
Our goal is to make divorce simpler, clearer, and more accessible by building a complete solution with partners like financial advisors and mediators. We’ll continue to enhance our platform, integrating more technology to provide clients with faster and even more accurate insights, while always keeping the expertise of family law judges at the core of the service.
We’re also proud to be offering our service to those going through mid-size divorces in England and Wales. If our clients typically have a marital asset pot of between £250k and £1.5m, then we can likely help.
MEET THE TEAM
Maarten Albarda
Chairman
Karen Arndt
Co-Founder & CEO
Rupert Whitehead
Co-Founder
Frank Arndt
Co-Founder
Evelyn Peacock
Managing Partner
Alexander Ilevbare
Software Engineer
David Batson
AI Software Engineer
Jasmin Thurkettle
Legal Operations Assistant
Company Structure and Investment
We are a privately held UK company, founded and funded entirely by our co-founders. We have not taken outside investment to date, ensuring our independence and control.
We operate with a lean structure, prioritising:
- Platform development
- Legal partner relationships
- Data security and compliance
- Marketing and awareness-building
Thank you for your interest in Whatwouldajudgesay.com.