Solicitor fees

[Fatherbob]

My wife and I are largely in agreement of how to split everything. I asked my solicitor to basically draw everything up and complete the consent order, D81 etc and get it all filed deal with any curveballs etc.

quote was around £5000 plus VAT. Not sure how much work is involved but was told rate was £260ph ++, so looking at around 19 hours of work. Seems like a lot of time to complete some forms but bit clueless?

Does this seem about right?

That's about what I paid 6 years ago.
Mine was also fairly straightforward, in that we had agreed a split.
There was a bit of back and forth with the courts though, the judge wasn't happy with what we'd agreed so had to submit extra evidence, reasoning and signed letters so a bit of extra work.
Was worth every penny for me though.

We did it online, about £600!

You can do almost everything yourself-we jointly spent £1400 in 2021 including court costs

go to ADVICE NOW link on this boards headers- download their diy guides. You do need solicitors for some bits but you’re wasting money on getting them to do your form E and D81-it’s not rocket science, they’re designed for normal people to fill in with using guides. Yep, you need a solicitor to legally draft your consent order- but you can write it out clearly in laymans terms and pass to them.

If you are in agreement you don't need to pay a solicitor to do the D81 - I filled it in myself and solicitor just did the consent form - about £650 total

That’s just to confirm the consent form is basically the agreement we have reached?

The D81 is like form E detailing all the financial stuff.

It sounds a lot if you aren’t negotiating a settlement before they draft the order. I was quoted £1500-3000 to negotiate/draft and submit and that’s a London solicitor whose hourly rate in £400 plus VAT.
Yea the D81 goes off with the consent order and details each persons finances as they are and what they’ll look like after the agreement, plus a little space to write why you believe it to be fair. You can download it off the government website and fill it in yourself.

It's not just 'completing a few forms'. The solicitor has to spend time getting a full understanding of your circumstances and making sure they advise you on them. You could always shop around - they don't all charge the same - but if you want their expertise you do have to pay.

Thanks I’ve emailed them to ask why it will take 20 hours to draft a consent order, proof read a D81 and submit to the court. My mediation service will do it all for around £500.

My consent order was drafted in the lunch hour after the settlement had been agreed. No extra charges applied as part of the final hearing costs.

Fair play to my barrister for reducing their fees to reflect that time in court was one day as opposed to two days. My total cost was £1000 plus VAT (2016).

My ex was not so lucky. Their total cost was £8000 plus VAT. Most of which went to the solicitors (who were not present at the final hearing) as opposed to the barrister.

That sounds about right unfortunately. It's good that you guys are in agreement with most of the process so that'll make it easier to get the split done quicker and with less money wasted. I agree with the other commenter though about using free online resources. I'm glad you got your mediation service to get it done for you for less but in case anyone needs more free resources I'll leave the one I used here as I didn't have the funds for a solicitor - https://iamlip.com/. I think it's crazy how expensive it is to get help with divorce from solicitors and barristers, it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to go your separate ways.