Divorce is one of life’s most stressful experiences. As well as the emotional toll it takes, there’s a financial price to pay too.
Here, we give you an outline of the costs associated with hiring a divorce solicitor. Of course, prices vary from firm to firm and depend on the seniority and experience of the solicitor attached to your case. That’s why you should treat the costs we mention here as estimates.
Uncontested Divorces: If ironing out the terms of your divorce turns out to be a relatively straightforward process, you can expect to pay between £850 and £2000.
Contested Divorces: The complexity of your case directly impacts the time your solicitor will need to spend on the details. In divorces involving disputes over child custody or finances, costs can range significantly from £3,000 to over £30,000. To keep expenses manageable, it’s advisable to resolve as many issues as possible through mediation before engaging a divorce solicitor.
For the purposes of this article, we are going to assume that you have explored other options when it comes to ending your marriage, including mediation and an informal separation agreement.
You and your partner have decided that divorce is your best or only option, and you meet the criteria needed to proceed, namely:
Once you have found a divorce solicitor who you think is right for you, the first step is to arrange an initial consultation with them. This can happen over the phone or the internet, or face to face, whichever works best for you. Some firms will offer this first meeting for free; others will charge you for their time. Usually, fees will be around £100 plus VAT for 30 minutes, but this varies from firm to firm.
Fixed Fee: Some firms will offer their divorce services on a fixed fee basis. For example, if you are the person applying for the divorce, a fee of around £650 + VAT could be charged for an uncontested divorce petition. If you are the person responding to a divorce, the fee could be slightly less (around £600 + VAT).
Hourly Fee: It’s much more likely that the solicitor you hire for your divorce will charge an hourly fee. The rate you will be charged depends on the experience level of the solicitor. How many hours they will need to charge you for will be affected by the complexity of your case and how easily any associated matters are to be resolved.
As a ballpark figure, a solicitor will likely charge on average £250 per hour for their expertise in divorces that include matters involving access to children and/or financial settlements.
Court Fee: Whatever kind of payment method your solicitor offers, you’ll need to pay for the court to process your divorce. The cost of this is currently £593.
Consent Order: You and your former partner may need to prepare a legally binding document that sets out how you intend to divide your assets. Although you can fill this out yourselves, your solicitor will need to confirm that the form is correct, and may need to add extra stipulations or conditions to the document. This will take time, and depending on how long it takes for both sides to agree to the content of the form, could add up to £1,000 – £2,000 to your costs.
Full Financial Disclosure: Some divorces will require you to make a full disclosure of your financial situation to the other party and their legal team. This usually happens when the division of assets cannot be agreed upon. This is a time-consuming and often expensive process, as you will have to provide your solicitor with all kinds of financial information and documentation, and your solicitor will have to go through it all, as well as the documents sent to them by your spouse’s legal representative. It’s easy to see how divorces like this can start getting very expensive.
Child Arrangements: As well as being emotionally draining, agreeing who your children live with after your separation can be financially costly too. The fees a solicitor charges you will depend on the complexity of the case and level of disagreement between you and your spouse, but costs are likely to run into several thousands of pounds.
Letting The Court Decide: The costliest divorces are usually those that end up being decided upon in court. You can expect to pay multiple thousands of pounds in such cases for various hearings and the extra work carried out by your solicitor. You will also be at the mercy of a judge in terms of the nature of your settlement.
If you want peace of mind that you are getting the best possible divorce settlement, we will always recommend hiring a divorce solicitor. Having someone with knowledge and experience of family law on your side during stressful and emotionally charged negotiations is well worth it. But you do have other options when it comes to getting divorced:
DIY Divorces: These entail you and your former spouse filling out and filing forms as well as paying all associated fees. Your divorce must be uncontested for this to work. In other words, you both must agree on everything, including the division of finances and access to children (if any). Taking this path is risky, as legal forms are often complex and if yours aren’t filled in correctly, it could lead to delays and extra costs with your case.
Online Divorces: Again, this is only an option if your divorce is uncontested. Most (but not all) of the divorce can be handled online by the people and technology running the platform you choose to use.
Mediation: All of the terms and details of your divorce can be resolved by mediation, which could work out cheaper than hiring a solicitor. But, just like solicitors, mediators charge an hourly fee. They can’t make decisions for you but can help you and your spouse find an agreeable solution.
Our dedicated team of divorce solicitors are based in Clare and Sudbury in Suffolk. They are ready to deliver the advice and guidance you need at this difficult time, and will do so with compassion and understanding. As a family-run business, we appreciate your need for support and clarity when it comes to costs, and both are integral to the services we provide.
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