How to fund the whole divorce process!

[Waitthenwhat]

Hi all, I am still at the planning stage, but engaged with few solicitors and oh my word fees are so high (SE of England). Most charge about £300/hr. I think I really need to go to court for the financial settlement but just wondering how everyone is managing! Did you resort to take a loan or similar to fund the divorce process?? What parts did you do yourself to save on costs? If so can you please share any helpful tips/links etc!

Anyone?

We kept solicitor fees to a minimum by agreeing on the settlement between ourselves ...it relied on us both being reasonable though. I assume by "going to court" you're saying this isn't possible?

Just to add context, we had one child (aged 13) who I have full custody of and a house (with mortgage already paid off) and pensions to split.

Can it be agreed between the 2 of you? I'm eternally grateful I could do this with Ex, doing the divorce paperwork costs so little by comparison.

Helped my now husband with his divorce to his ex wife. We went online and filed for divorce ourselves online. Paid the £550 fee, she refused to sign so paid another £50 to push it through as service deemed. Agreed to consent order which cost £100 to draft online and file.

Thanks for the replies. My soon to be x is refusing to pay mortgage/childcare while we are still living together. You can’t have a normal conversation with him without him getting angry! Hence me thinking I probably need to go to court for that part. Finances are not as straightforward as we still have loads on the mortgage and 3 kids youngest 5. He is very secretive about what other assets he has if any. I can try to talk to him but not sure it will get us anywhere!

I did everything on line. I used the solicitors free half hour to discuss a ball park figure for a financial settlement, they can give you an idea within that time if you take all the figures with you, cost of home, who has kids, pensions, incomes etc.
The only thing I paid a solicitor for was the consent order - very important bit of paper. That was around £500.
A lot of people I know just separate and don't bother getting divorced before 5 years because of the cost.

This is like my situation complete refusal to.engage. mediation would have been a way through but he refused to engage the waste of money.
In my case we did go to court and I spen a load bloody awful all my savings I had been saving for 3 solid years but this did not prepare me for the expenses. Thoes that worked it out with the partner are the clever ones.
He spent not a penny nothing apart from.the accounts fee.without it going this way It would not have happened so for that I'm grateful.
I have a child with extreme additional.needs .
I'm still engaging the law firm due to the fact he refused to remove my name from the rental house which his to remove to but wants me to hand over an amount that was agreed without doing what his been told to do .
without a shadow of doubt without engaging the law firm.I wouldn't have gotten.to where I am .Full time worker on similar salaries.
No pension sharing thank God 3 different barristers 2 judges.
One of the judges presided twice and was a just man the final barrister she was key to fighting for me worked a day free my case is a bit complicated .my first discussion on divorce was in 2016.
Finally got my nisi in 2018 my absolute last month although his choosing to ignore what the financial agreed has stated.
Thoes that can work it out are the sensible ones.
Over 25 years marriage.
Bastard am I bitter yes to a degree especially when he bought a 18 000 car to piss everyone off did this show him to be a bastard oh yes.
Especially when he sold shares and couldn't account for the money was he seen to be a bastard oh yes.
His still in the house with me till the former rental property has been done up to a degree his pleased with with the expectations that I hand over the agreed money for him to do it up with.
Not going to happen till my name is removed and his name is removed from. The family home .
There are lawyers and there are barristers I thank God that I got the right ones as I said my case is complicated due to my child's needs.

I think you need to tell him to take a look at the divorce process in detail. He can refuse to cooperate and be honest and you’ll both end up in court and worse off you can go the official mediation route and pay less and hopefully get to a position where you can do parent decently. Or you can sit down and agree that the past is now over, and you have to agree a way to go forwards with a formal legal consent order etc . The more open and cooperative he is the less money it will cost him. At the end of the day the split of assets/loans and maintenance payments will be exactly the same. It can either cost him a lot to get there, or, working cooperatively he can do it at a bargain price. He is obliged by law in whatever case to complete a D81 form which is a financial declaration. It is illegal to falsify it. If he insists on court he will have to fill in a lot more detailed documents about his financial situation as well. At the end of the day it is not his decision on what constitutes a fair settlement. And behaviour of either party has nothing to do with how finances are split.
Has he been to a solicitor for his free slot and had this explained. If not she needs to tell him to do this, and refuse to discuss the divorce terms until he has properly informs himself of the process.
In meantime she needs to get her hands on all financial documents and statements or gather evidence of what she believes he has. This includes savings, debts, property, investments, income AND Pensions

I asked to be billed regularly so I could pay as I went - total costs were £8K.

The best money I spent was around £600 on a barristers opinion, which showed exactly how much I would get if it went to court, so I could negotiate a reasonable financial settlement.

The rest of it was spect trying to keep me out of court with a litigious ex. and sort out childcare arrangements.

Thank you all! I am still digesting all the info out there. Also starting to collate my own paperwork and evidence! Wish me luck as I will be doing this while still living under the same roof with stbxh!

I paid as I went along. Got a zero interest credit card. Then another one. Then a loan.

I had a long drawn out difficult divorce, with an ex who wanted me to get nothing (we were married nearly 30 years!) and in no way would he negotiate. After 3 years, at the final hearing, I was awarded more than I'd originally asked for, so I could finally pay off the loan and cards.

Oh Gosh, a whole 3 years! 😱 can I pls ask how much it all cost? I can see my husband doing the same!

@Waitthenwhat

Oh Gosh, a whole 3 years! 😱 can I pls ask how much it all cost? I can see my husband doing the same!

I'm not sure! I don't really want to think about it - I'd say around £25,000, maybe more.

I would say though that I lived a very frugal life during that time, no going out, no new clothes, £25 a week for the supermarket. So I could throw any 'spare' money at the divorce.