HOW TO KEEP THE EXPENSES OF YOUR DIVORCE IN CHECK
The average cost of divorce is ever increasing. Aside from the attorneys fees, are costs. Costs include, but are not limited to: court filing fees, service of process fees, witness fees, parent education class fees, mediation fees, expert witness fees, business evaluator fees, real estate appraiser fees, deposition costs, deposition transcript fees, and on and on.
Nowadays, the work required to be performed by attorneys and their staff is also increasing, as procedures and local rules require more specialized work to be performed. Courts are also pushing cases through more quickly as they, themselves, have mandates placed upon them by their respective state supreme courts. The expenses listed above are average expenses with some cases requiring more of those than mentioned previously, while others may require a bit less.
If you or your spouse own property or property(s) together, you may also face additional expenditures, like the cost of refinancing a mortgage into only one spouse’s name, the cost of retitling property, or the cost of real estate commissions for the sale of the jointly-held property(s).
How you may reduce some of the costs associated with the actual divorce often depends upon the parties, themselves. Many people filled with emotion do not realize this. Some tips for reducing the fees and costs associated with your divorce are:
Be nice. This does not mean that you will give away the farm–but that you will consider all aspects of the case, your position, as well as the other party’s position. The reason for the divorce varies greatly between household to household.
Work towards a concensus. If you and your spouse can come to a divorce settlement agreement, even outside of court, you will save thousands of dollars in court costs, legal fees, expert witnesses, etc. However, you must be willing to be thoughtful, researched, and agreeable. In other words, be willing to compromise. While you do wish to compromise, you do not wish to give up value nor property which the law states is rightfully yours–or should be rightfully yours.
Avoid letting anger or emotion rule. It is tempting to want to punish your spouse during the entire divorce process, especially if you did not want to end the marriage or you believe that the divorce is your spouse’s fault. Do not give into this temptation, as it will only hurt both of you and will have an adverse impact on your own financial future, as well as your spouse’s financial future.
Try to keep living costs down during the divorce. It cannot be stated enough, it is very expensive in today’s environment to maintain two households, especially if you have a family home that neither of you cannot afford on one income. Consider trying to remain in the same household until your divorce is final and/or until the house is sold if you cannot afford to maintain separate residences. This is, of course, unless domestic violence or other reasons preclude this. If you and your spouse are willing to work together and are serious about reducing costs, this will be a valuable piece of advice. If both of you are focused on not destroying the financial security of the family nor breaking its present budget, divorces can be obtained without skyrocketing your costs.
If you must litigate one aspect of the divorce, make sure it is one which is worth fighting over. In other words, do an economic cost/benefit analysis to see what you would receive versus what it would cost, in an economic sense, to get there.
Avoid men and women in black robes. What I mean by this, is that members of our judiciary are essentially strangers to you, your children, and your finances. Make the big decisions that you have to on your own. Don’t spend money on making decisions which could have been made by the two of you, rather than a stranger. Oftentimes, neither of you will end up being happy with the result.
Make careful choices with your legal counsel. Some reputations are well-deserved, and others are not. You want legal counsel who will be able to assist you in your endeavor to get a divorce, not somebody who will cause you additional problems and expenses, unnecessarily, because of their desire to overlitigate the case. Not only should you choose an attorney that you can work with, but choose an attorney who wants to work with you. Do not pester your attorney and his staff on a regular basis over nonessential or unimportant issues. Likewise, do not flood your attorney’s email inbox with voluminous and superfluous rants. Utilize your attorney wisely by giving them your full cooperation so that unnecessary time does not have to be spent on constant reminders.
Initial consultations. Realize that most divorce lawyers will charge you a consultation fee. Unless you have not decided as to who your counsel will be, you should keep the amount of consultations to a limit. Why do attorney’s charge for consultation fees? Firstly, attorneys have a lot of fact gathering to obtain from you before being able to advise you with value. There are important nuances to each and every family’s dynamic, and each are unique. During the consultation, your prospective attorney will give you valuable information about what he or she feels is appropriate for your matter and what the likely outcome may be. However, once your attorney gives you this advice, your spouse or any other party connected with the divorce (such as a business partner involved in a closely held business or family business) cannot utilize this attorney’s services–not to mention the attorney would be unable to work on his or her own present case inventory for people who have already retained their services. And, this time cannot be recouped. So, the preclusion of work to be performed, the potential for an ethical conflict, along with the “value” you receive during that consultation, are all valid reasons for the consultation fee.
Realize that you are a participant. Many people retain legal counsel and, thereafter, feel as if their attorney should handle everything in their matter. This is not true, and while the old adage goes “too many cooks in the kitchen spoils the meal,” this is your life, and you have to give your attorney boundaries and expectations–preferably in written fashion. As distasteful as it may seem to most, Discovery involves collating a large amount of material, including, but not limited to: tax returns, bank statements, and credit card statements. Realize that if you are in the divorce realm, you will have to produce them in their entirety and produce them in a timely fashion, as there are deadlines to be met in every divorce action.
Budget. It is very rare that the average person budgets for a crisis or other matter which unexpectedly falls into their lap. While under some circumstances somebody who has been unhappy for many, many years may set aside funds to obtain a divorce–most people do not have a budget. As best as you can, have some budget or limit in mind. Unlike the gas pump, a law firm cannot give you a certain “dollars-worth” of legal services and merely stop and get out. Sometimes judges will not allow an attorney to withdraw from a matter. Additionally, when an attorney performs work and the client is unable to pay, friction often divides them and then the terms and conditions of their retainer agreement come into play. Some people are unhappy with their attorney, and it is merely based upon financial demands that they didn’t realize expenses were getting to the level that they were. However, some law firms get engaged in very contentious cases or they cannot adequately know where their legal fees are at any particular junction in time. They are too busy working on your case and they do not realize how much time has accumulated.
If you or any family member, coworker, or acquaintance know of anyone who is thinking of getting divorced, please have them contact our office at (305)661-7000.
