From Daniel Alvarez
29 • Phoenix, AZ • 5th Grade Teacher • No Attorney
“I didn’t want to be my own lawyer. I just couldn’t afford not to be.”
When people talk about divorce, they assume you have options. That you’ll get a lawyer, someone will help, and there’s a system to guide you.
That wasn’t my reality. My ex hired an aggressive attorney within a week. I had a $1,100 paycheck and a folder of printouts from the county website.
I’m a public school teacher. I don’t have family money. I don’t have savings. I just wanted to finalize things, keep what’s mine, and move on.
The court paperwork made me feel like I didn’t belong there. Legal words I had to Google three times. Hearings I wasn’t prepared for. Every time I showed up, I felt like I was interrupting a process meant for someone else.
Then I found Splitifi. It didn’t make me a lawyer. But it made me dangerous—in a good way.
I uploaded everything: pay stubs, emails, text threads. The platform flagged financial inconsistencies and structured them into a timeline that I printed and brought to court.
Suddenly I wasn’t rambling. I was presenting. I wasn’t reacting. I was prepared.
I’m still representing myself. But I don’t feel like I’m alone anymore.
And honestly, that changed everything.
—Daniel
