“Why is divorce so expensive? Because it’s worth it!”
It’s an old adage, variously attributed to musician Willie Nelson, author Garrison Keillor, comedian Henny Youngman, and probably many others. The latest celebrity to use it is rapper Professor Green, who reportedly admitted to comedian John Bishop in an interview that his divorce from actress Millie Mackintosh was costly. He joked: “You know what they say about divorce – it’s expensive. You know why? Cos it’s worth it!”
But does divorce have to be expensive?
We wrote here just last week about the divorce of Latvian millionaire Valeri Belokon who had run up over £1 million on his on-going divorce proceedings. Despite this the judge hearing the case, Deputy High Court Judge Richard Todd QC, said that these costs were not unreasonable. Clearly, however, most people cannot afford even a fraction of that sum.
So how can you keep your costs down? There are a number of ways.
Firstly, you should try to agree matters if you possibly can, whether through solicitors or by some other method, such as mediation or collaborative law (see this post). You will, of course, need to know what you are entitled to, and you should seek legal advice before agreeing to anything. We can help you find that advice.
If you are unable to agree matters then there are still ways that you can reduce costs. You can, for example, go to arbitration (see also this post), which is usually cheaper than contested court proceedings. Even if the case does go to court, you can ensure that costs are minimised by, for example, keeping your expectations realistic and not incurring costs on unnecessary or irrelevant matters. Again, we can help you get the advice you need to guide you.
As to whether your divorce was worth it, we will leave to you to decide!
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Family Law Cafe surrounds and supports the customer with both legal and pastoral care, end to end, from top barristers to case workers to therapists and mediators, to help the customer get the best possible result with the minimum stress.
Image of Professor Green by Eva Rinaldi, licensed under CC BY 2.0.