Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Divorce: Do You Really Need A Lawyer?

By Richard Vanderhoek


One of the biggest complaints that a lot of people have when it comes to their divorce is the amount of money that they spent on an attorney. Even when the two parties involved completely agree on the terms of the divorce, many believe that an attorney must be retained.

A retainer for an attorney could run anywhere from $1500 to $2500 depending on the complexity of your divorce and where you reside. And this is just the fee to get the divorce process started. Most likely, you will find yourself spending much more than that. Now, remember that you will each have to come up with a retainer for your own attorney. That is a lot of money put into someone else's bank account, when you could surely need some more put into yours. After all, divorces are expensive, even with the attorney bill aside.

So how about forgetting the attorney retainers and simply file your own divorce? It really is something that is a lot easier then you think. You might have to research a couple of things or make a few phone calls but the effort will be worth it. You will be able to save yourself thousands of dollars.

The best way to complete a divorce on your own is if the two of you agree on everything. Whether you have property, bills, savings accounts and children to make arrangements for, you can legally settle all of this on your own. The papers to do it are not all that expensive and the filing fees with the courts, while varying per state, are fairly reasonable as well.

Even if the two of your are not seeing eye to eye on a few issues, there are still ways to handle your divorce without an attorney involved. You could hire a professional mediator to help the two of you come to an agreement or you could take it all the way through the court system, which will allow a judge to make the final decision.

Again, this can all be done without having to pay thousands of dollars to someone who will simply speak on your behalf. why can't you say the things you want to say? You can and that is what many people fail to realize.

So how much will filing a divorce on your own really cost you?

Well, it will depend on a few factors, such as what state you reside in and whether or not you and your ex can agree on things. It could be as low as a couple hundred dollars. Since this is obviously the more affordable way to do things, you are going to want to make sure that you take it into serious consideration. This way, you will have additional money to pay off debt or to give yourself a head start in your new life that you are making for yourself.




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