Parents are becoming more and more involved in their children’s marital affairs, from prenuptial agreements to divorce negotiations. Add to that many millennials emerging from divorce are moving back in with their parents. This article will explore these trends and the implications to the attorney-client relationship.
First, let’s define a “millennial.” Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines a “millennial” as, “of relating to, or belonging to the generation of people born in the 1980s or 1990s.” Most people reading this article have at one time or another heard the term “helicopter parent.” For those living under a rock, a “helicopter parent” micromanages every aspect of his child’s routine and behavior – from educational toys for infants to concerned calls to teachers in adulthood— ensuring their child is on the path to success by paving that path for them. Generational demographers have described “helicopter parenting” as the parenting style of most baby boomer parents of millennial children. For those millennials coasting through life under the wings of their overinvolved parents, getting less than an A on a term paper is really hard, so it is no surprise that dealing with a divorce has really thrown these millennials for a loop.
