Divorce Is Expensive. Clarity Shouldn’t Be.

Every once in a while someone walks into your orbit with an idea so clear, so needed, so perfectly matched to who they are that your only job is to make sure it gets built.

Most people don’t realize how expensive divorce is until they’re already in it. Everyone expects that part to hurt.

They often don’t really know what they own, what they owe, what they may have to divide, what support could look like, or what life might cost on the other side.

And too often, the only way to get that clarity is to pay an attorney before they’re even ready to say the word “divorce” out loud.

My good friend, Daryl Weinman, saw that gap.

Then she built Ex-Hale.

Daryl is a board-certified family law attorney with more than thirty years of practice. She is also - and this matters more than the credentials - one of the most genuinely kind, clear-eyed, and generous people I know. 

We met about a decade ago through Austin Round Table, a group of C-suite executives and business owners connected by a belief in being one degree of separation between business, politics, and philanthropy. That community attracts a certain kind of person. Daryl is the best version of that person.

For thirty years she has sat across from people navigating divorce: men and women trying to understand what their financial life looked like on the other side of one of the hardest decisions they'd ever make.

She observed them struggle to access the most basic information. Not because it didn't exist. Because it was locked behind legal fees or publicity most people couldn't afford at the moment they needed clarity most.

She decided to change that.

When Daryl shared her vision with me I was both honored and thrilled. This was exactly the kind of idea worth fighting for, and exactly the kind of person worth fighting alongside. I brought together the team that would ultimately build it, helped shape the vision in those early conversations, and watched something remarkable take form.

The result is Ex-Hale. And it is something to celebrate.

Ex-Hale is a financial planning tool for anyone facing divorce - or considering it, or simply needing to understand what the other side looks like before they're ready to say it out loud. You answer questions about your assets, debts, income, and expenses.

The platform applies your state's marital property law and generates a full financial snapshot: asset division, debt allocation, support estimates.

Completely private. No attorney required.

A warm seahorse named Libby guides you through every step, because Daryl knows that people in hard moments need to feel like something is on their side.

It is, in the best possible way, exactly what she set out to build.

What makes Ex-Hale extraordinary isn't just what it does. It's what Daryl is doing with it.

She's building a backend so attorneys can use it directly with clients. She's making it available to domestic violence shelters, universities, and nonprofits. 

She's extending thirty years of showing up for people - all people - into something that scales far beyond what any one practice ever could.

That's my girl, Daryl.

She’s that kind of a gal.

If you know someone standing at that crossroads considering divorce, planning for it, or just needing to understand their options privately before they're ready to move (it could be you), send them to Ex-Hale.com.

And if you're affiliated with or are an attorney, a shelter, a university, or an organization working with people navigating this, please reach out. Ex-Hale is actively building partnerships with people like you :)

Ex-Hale.com — Built on real law. Designed for real people.

Jennifer Asbury-Hughes writes about visibility, connection, and the people building things that matter. Based in Austin, TX