Dubstepped.
i disagree with what you say about a letter of disassociation. its exactly what the cult want if they have no grounds to d.f a person--the end result is the same----it is announced that the person is no longer one of blah blah blah.
so--from then on in--its pressure on that persons family and friends to shoot the shun gun. and if they do associate--they run the risk of being d/f for it.
in my case--going back to the 70's,..the shunning rule wasnt enforced like it is now. our family was friends with another couple--the husband had resigned from his congregation--having previously been the cong servant---he didnt want to face the shame and scandel of being d/f for adultery. his jw wife stuck by him.
our family was happy with his company--they stayed at our house for holidays. he openly smoked. we simply regarded him as not a jw any more.
so--i thought it would be the same for me. i resigned after attending a committee meeting held to check out something i was alleged to have said--although i hadnt attended meetings for over a year. i simply said i no longer considered myself a jw--and if they met with me in the street--i was MR ( sutton )..not BROTHER. but any of the congregation was welcome to visit my wife and her mother if they wanted to.
this worked fine for years: i occasionally attended a talk or sunday assembly to keep my wife off my back. i was never shunned. it was a few more years later we got a divorce and subsequently my teen age kids started shunning ( from maternal pressure i guess )
so i really do believe if anyone is contemplating writing a letter of resignation / disassociation to think long and hard first if they have family still in the cult.
the watchtower society is playing deadly games with families. why give it any more ammunition.