At the beginning of the process and wondering about the cost

[indomitablespirit]

My husband and I have decided to separate - I started the ball rolling for many reasons. My question is - I can’t work out even as ballpark figure how much it might cost to get a divorce. I did have a 20 min free consultation with a solicitor, and the next stage is to pay £300 + for one hour meeting. They mentioned that I should plan to have £2000 in my account every month to cover their varying fees for the process. My OH seems reasonably amenable in terms of giving me spousal maintenance and child maintenance. He said I could stay in the house until youngest is 18 (12 yrs away) and sell with equal shares. I suppose what I am asking is that if I go with a solicitor which is probably wise, how much do people end up paying if there are no major disputes. I think the only dispute I may have is him taking the kids to France. I am worried about these awful cases you hear about where one parent takes the kids abroad and keep them there. Thanks for any advice

I think it varies. I was told they would require a deposit of £500 a month into their account for fees, some months not many costs would be incurred, but others there would be much bigger expenses.
I think £2k per month to them is ridiculous, how are you supposed to afford to live if you earn an average wage? What do low income people do I wonder?

Is he high earner ?

I see - I think they said it wouldn’t cost £2000 per month but would vary depending on the work done. I just wondered what the final sum might be, but I suppose it can differ from case to case.

He is - does that make a difference? He earns just over £100k before tax if that is classed as a high earner. I am currently seeking jobs and having interviews, but would earn about 1/4 of his wages normally.

A MONTH?? they are taking the piss

If you are amicable there is no need to spend that much. My divorce is nearly finalised. Did the initial application myself online £693 and then d81 form ourselves. Total solicitor about £650 to draft the consent order that's it

Get on wikivorce. I've done it all myself with advice on there. The only thing you need a solicitor for is the consent order. That cost £250. The entire thing cost less than £900.

I'd go to mediation (which your solicitor should have advised) and seek to reach an agreement and have it drawn up into a consent order. This will be far cheaper and is legally binding. Further, I'd apply for the actual divorce and do it yourself. Also easy to do. Don't apply for your decree absolute until you've settled the marital finances.

I did my entire divorce myself including self representing during many hearings as my ex was a dick. However, if you can be amicable and have the basics of an agreement before you see a mediator, you can avoid huge solicitors costs.

You do not need a solicitor at this point, file online yourselves, it's a joint process these days and he can pay the one time fee (it's under £600). Once the ball is rolling you need to work out child arrangements (use a mediator if you can't agree), child support and a financial settlement - all of this can be done independently then it's useful for a solicitor to write up the financial agreement to present to the court (there's no need to get the court involved with the children if you agree). The whole process takes a while as they built a 20 week wait into the process, I'm at the final hurdle now and have not used a solicitor at all!

@whatyoulookingfor

Who did you use for your consent order, I've been given such varied quotes from £99 + vat to nearly £1000! All sorted, everything split just need paperwork for the pension company

Only solicitor costs for me was £480 for consent order and £150 hours advice at the beginning...the rest I did myself.....

If you are in agreement why not file the papers yourself? It's £580 for the divorce application which is very easy to fill in.
Then conditional order another few hundred,

the financial order is what needs a solicitor to draft, or even just check if you draft it yourself, and file to the judge.

If you're in agreement what are the solicitors for?

It does make a difference
100k sounds alot but tying his share of house equity, plus spousal plus cms will significantly and materially impact his ability to house himself and pay for himself

12 years is a very long time to do this

no solicitor would advise him that this was a good option for him

what assets are there available to split?

the aim of any and every divorce is to sever financial ties as quickly as is possible not tie yourselves together for decades

Oh and who is going to pay the mortgage and bills on the current house?

Last thing
in 12 years will you be able to raise the capital to buy out his share of a house that will have risen in value ? And house yourself? Many women with these arrangements find themselves in significant challenges at this point

For my divorce we had no disputes over the divorce petition and financial settlement. However, because my ex was sectioned 3 times throughout the process, it took about 3 years to get it finalised. This added extra costs. That part of the divorce cost me about £4k.

However, there were two sets of child arrangements proceedings which went to dispute resolution hearings. They cost me about £30k…… !

Sometimes Court is the only way and that’s when it gets expensive!

However, I would say my case was unusual.

For a “normal” case where you both agree on everything, receive some legal advice and ask a solicitor to draft the relevant paperwork, I would say £4k is probably about right. Even minor stuff which causes delays can add to the costs when extra letters/emails get sent out.

It very much depends on the “other side” and their conduct. I suspect you will get widely different responses on here because of that.

Solicitors can be very important to ensure you actually understand the agreement you are entering into and all that goes with it.

Despite the cost, I would say it’s good practice to receive legal advice, even if it confirms that your agreement is reasonable.