Divorcing? 5 Ways to Avoid Enormous Legal Bills
Howard MacKinnon
Getting divorced is never easy. But when you have to deal with high legal bills along with everything else it can be scarier than it has to be. We have come up with several ways you can keep your legal costs under control.
1. Can you manage your divorce without a lawyer at all? If you understand the legal consequences and don't need legal advice then it may be that you can represent yourself in getting your divorce. But instead of trying to everything entirely by yourself, there are two fairly cheap sources of help you can turn to.
In most cases spouses are able to work out the terms of their divorce without needing to ask a judge to actually decide anything. These are called uncontested divorces. They still involve a lot of necessary paperwork and court office staff are not able to do it for you or give you detailed help. Some are not even allowed to give you all the forms. But there are other options.
The first is a do-it-yourself divorce kit. This is really a workbook with a lot of fill-in-the-blank type forms. They usually cost between $20 and $40 and you can find them at most bookstores and stationary stores. Expect to spend many hours figuring out how to fill in the forms but you will save a lot of money in the end.
Another option which saves you all the time of working through the kit and paper work on your own is to use of the divorce document assembly services advertised on the Internet. These cost about $250 for which you get all the documents you need ready for you to sign, date and file - along with complete instructions. This middle option is a bit more expensive than a kit but a lot easier and faster and still saves you a ton of money when compared to hiring a lawyer to do the same thing.
2. Try mediating instead of litigating. If you are among the 10% or so who have not been able to agree with your spouse on the terms of your divorce, before your lawyers start scrapping hire a mediator. A mediator is a specialist in assisted negotiation who will help you and your spouse come to an agreement on those touchy issues that you have not been able to resolve on your own. Mediation is successful in resolving the majority of disputes and can change your divorce from a courtroom contest into a far less expensive paper shuffle.
Mediators are professionals and a day of mediation will cost a few thousand dollars which you and your spouse can split. But if that saves each of you tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills then it is money well and wisely spent.
3. If you need legal advice see how much of it you can get for free by taking advantage of the common 30 minute free consultation. Be sure to ask if the lawyer offers these freebies before you make an appointment. They are common enough that if you call around you should be able to find someone who will talk to you for a while for free.
4. Understand how a lawyer's bill is calculated. If the hourly rate is $200 then for every message you leave or brief conversation you have you will be billed at least $20. Each time you are tempted to call your lawyer and ask how things are progressing, take out a $20 bill and say goodbye to it - you might reconsider. A better idea is to arrange at the beginning to have copies of all letters written or received by your lawyer forwarded to you. You will still be billed for these copies but they will let you keep tabs on what is happening with your file without incurring any more fees than necessary.
5. Some, but not most, lawyers will agree to bill you a flat fee for your divorce. It won't be cheap but at least it will give you the peace of mind of knowing what the damage is right from the start. If you need to arrange financing it helps to know how much you will need to borrow or set aside. You and your lawyer can then focus exclusively on results.
About the Author:
Visit the author's site at Divorce Canada as an example of a divorce document assembly service mentioned in this article. The site also contains hundreds of pages full of useful information.
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