Legal costs for financial order - is this reasonable?

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I had a half hour session with a local solicitor who is part of the Resolution scheme. She told me that it would cost 1.4k to get to decree nisi and a further 7k to sort the finances. The finance cost was based on a clean break with everything agreed between us before the solicitor drew up the paperwork. (I am in the NW).

That order of costs was financially way beyond my means as she was aware. I decided to get to decree nisi myself when I realised just how straightforward it was. Finances have been agreed between us and I am happy with them. What input do I really need from a solicitor and is 7k reasonable for it?

That kind of money is out of reach for me and I don't know anyone who could lend it to me. Had we been arguing about assets there was 20

Wretched phone [grr] The total assets we are talking about are only 20k. Other than the house I have nothing to sell that would raise anything like that money.

No I don't think that is reasonable.

We divorced and I did the paperwork, we only needed a solicitor for the house and that cost about £250.

The whole divorce including legal fees was less than £800.

You should be able to find a solicitor willing to do it for about £500 fixed fee, unless there are pensions to be divided as well. £7000 is far too much, and I hope you just got the wrong end of the stick.
Shop around

As Collaborate says, one of you needs to pay in the region of £500/600 plus VAT to have a consent order drawn up. You both sign it and it'll be submitted to court together with brief financial statements by each of you.

If the other person has no solicitor on record, the court may possibly list it for a quick hearing, just to check that they understand everything so to avoid that happening I suggest that a brief statement is added to say that they have had brief advice ( most solicitors will give a free or fixed fee half hour to go over a consent order) and understand the order.

Collaborate she was quite clear the breakdown was 5k for filling in all the finance forms, correspondence with ex's solicitors and seeing the case through the court. All the assets are mine and ex made no financial contributions. 2k was to be reserved as an offer to ex if he wanted to make a claim on the assets.

A neighbour has used her and is paying her monthly (several hundred pounds a month). Doesn't have any complaints but it seemed a huge amount to me. Glad to hear that I should be expecting to pay a lot less - I should be able to conclude the divorce much sooner.

I'm assuming here that you've already agreed between you both what the financial split will be, so you don't need anyone to negotiate one for you.

yes we have apart from some wording around annual reviews of the maintenance for ds. To be fair we weren't at that stage when she quoted.

It might then be that she thought she'd have to negotiate a settlement for you. Impossible to give an accurate costs estimate for that, though £7000 is s bit on the high side. Often best to tell a client how high costs could go if you both find it difficult to reach agreement.

Yes, I think she expected to be doing all the work, negotiations, lots of letters. £7k is likely to be about 25 hours of her time. If you just want her to spend about two hours writing into a consent order what you have already agreed then that might well be £500.

I did my own divorce (decree's) and we agreed finances between us. I dealt with the land registery for the house transfer (but no mortgage so less complicated) and I saw a solicitor to draw up the consent order which basically said what the split of assets had been and that we both gave up the right to future claims. She quoted me £250 + VAT, then after I had seen her she emailed to say that as I had everything organised and it was just a case of drawing up the order she would only charge £150 + VAT (which amazed me, I'm an accountant and charge by the hour, and what with setting me up as a client, covering money laundering regs, 1/2 hour meeting with me and then drafting the order I can't see that £150 was worth it). I'm Cambridge area.

£7k sounds utterly ridiculous for what you have posted.

Oh, I also submitted the finance forms and consent order to court myself - solicitor literally drafted it for me, so no costs for her re filling the forms in (which I had already done, and ex had done his side, before I met with solicitor).

Thanks Squirrels - I will ask the next solicitor just to draft it. No point paying for them to fill in forms etc.

Sounds about right if you live in the south east and go through financial disclosure, questionnaires, etc.

Sounds a bit steep (especially when it comes to the equity to mention) but costs do vary. Shop around. Make sure the (Family Law) solicitor you use knows enough about contract and property law too because I've come across more than a couple of orders that while being correct when it comes to Family Law are unenforceable under over areas.

Unless you agree a set fee the price is variable. Hearings get delayed, extended, paperwork can go back and forth and things can mount.

You might want to consider a McKenzie Friend. A good one will be able to help you with all the paperwork, the negotiations that inevitably crop up and brief you fully on the day so you know what to say, what to expect, etc. As with a solicitor - shop around. They range from people out to make a quick buck all the way to ones like my other half (qualified paralegal, former debt collector, has worked in courts around the country including the Royal Courts of Justice).

Good luck!