| As a divorce professional, I hear a lot about how easy | | | | once. Or, clients will ask the lawyer to file papers |
| it is to get divorced. I'm assuming that the people who | | | | requesting a court hearing when really a settlement |
| say this have never been divorced, because after 19 | | | | conference would make more sense. Again, it |
| years in this field, 12 as a divorce litigation attorney with | | | | probably all comes down to whether you're ready to |
| the nickname "Jaws", I don't think there's anything easy | | | | reach an agreement and whether you're emotionally |
| about divorce at all. | | | | prepared to reach an agreement. |
| Emotional toll and costs aside---and we all know | | | | Nowadays there are a variety of ways to resolve the |
| people who have paid too dearly with these | | | | dissolution of a relationship: Alternative Dispute |
| non-monetary factors-divorce can get expensive fast. | | | | Resolution models including self-help, paralegals, |
| Lots of clients ask how much their case will cost. It's | | | | mediation, Association for Conflict Resolution, and |
| hard to estimate a total for legal fees before a case | | | | Collaborative Divorce, Collaborative Divorce have all |
| begins because it's hard to know how long it will take. | | | | entered the modern day lexicon in addition to the |
| There are some predictors, however: acrimony and | | | | traditional divorce litigation model. |
| agreement-readiness. | | | | These estimates are based on my 12 years of |
| The single best predictor of the cost of a divorce is | | | | experience as a divorce litigator followed by 7 years in |
| acrimony. The more unresolved emotional business, | | | | a mediation-only law practice. They're Los Angeles |
| the more expensive the process gets. Ironically, it's rare | | | | numbers, so if you live in a more rural area you can |
| that the reason people end up in court is because they | | | | reduce these estimates by 30% to 50%. The contrast |
| have a legal question which needs the helping hand of | | | | is still the same, though: you can save a great deal of |
| a judge. People end up in court because they've | | | | money and time, as well as stress, by using mediation |
| stopped talking, there are too many hurt feelings, or | | | | before choosing litigation. |
| because they don't know of any other way to end | | | | Here's the chart that lays it all out: |
| their relationship. | | | | Chart of Cost of Mediated vs. Litigated Divorce |
| When both spouses are ready to get divorced and | | | | * Think I've exaggerated the costs of litigation? |
| want to reach an agreement, fees generally stay low. | | | | Consider this quote from the presiding judge of the |
| Even if you have complicated finances or a | | | | Los Angeles County Superior Court at the Beverly Hills |
| complicated parenting plan, solving a divorce case is | | | | Bar Association meeting in September 2002: "By the |
| mostly about willingness to try to agree. | | | | time we see [divorce] cases in court, most people |
| Lots of people pin the high costs of divorce on the | | | | have spent all of their community assets on the |
| lawyers themselves. I suppose sometimes that's true, | | | | divorce itself. By that time, we're just dividing debts and |
| (Frank letter from divorce lawyer about why folks | | | | allocating attorney's fees." |
| practice like they do) but if you're using an ethical | | | | ** For this calculation, I've used a 4% simple interest |
| lawyer, generally the costs become high when clients | | | | rate and subtracted the cost of mediation from the |
| ask the lawyer to help in ways that the lawyer isn't | | | | cost of litigation. This figure represents the amount of |
| trained to help. Bills get high when clients call every | | | | money you'd save by mediating your divorce instead |
| time a question pops into their minds, rather than saving | | | | of litigating, and how much that savings would be |
| questions on a notepad by the phone to ask all at | | | | worth if you invested it at 4% interest for 20 years. |