Divorce can be a long, emotional process. Your attorney can seem like the only person on your side. But whether it’s because of ethical reasons or legal obligations, your lawyer probably isn’t telling you everything. Here are some things about divorce you won’t hear from an attorney.
The divorce process could be long-term.
Your attorney may not have any clue how long your divorce will take, but sometimes it takes years. It depends on both of the parties involved and the mitigation between the married couple. Uncontested marriages can take as little as a couple of weeks, but if there are a lot of assets or children in the marriage it could easily take up to a year. No matter how amicable you want it to be, pressuring both sides to complete paperwork at lightning speed won’t hurry the process along and could result in errors later down the line.
Divorce legal advice can be expensive.
Divorce legal advice from an attorney can be extremely costly. Many divorce legal aid offices choose to charge hourly, but there are some that charge on a case by case basis. Sometimes cases are open and shut because neither party has children or assets, but a long drawn out battle can be very expensive. On top of attorney fees, you’ll also have to pay for filing, paperwork, mediation, and court costs. It can vary by state, but Huffington Post found that $15,000 to $20,000 is the average cost for a divorce.
Divorce isn’t fair.
No one in a divorce will get everything they want. An attorney wants to get the best possible for the client, but divorce legal advice doesn’t outline that you’ll get everything you want from the split. Divorce forces people to compromise and choose what they think is most important, and sometimes mitigation is necessary to get both parties a satisfactory share of assets or a fair visitation schedule if children are involved. Your divorce legal aid will do their best, but you probably won’t get everything you want.
Conversation is important.
Attorneys often encourage their clients not to talk to the opposite party for various reasons—most often to avoid giving them information that’s usable in court. However, a cheaper divorce can be obtained if a couple speaks to one another and works out issues away from divorce legal aid. While it isn’t always possible, a civilized conversation can cut down the amount of money both parties spend by working together.
Expensive divorce legal aid isn’t better.
An attorney that charges $400 an hour isn’t necessarily better than one that costs $150 per hour. One of the biggest factors to consider is whether your lawyer has had cases similar to yours and succeeded in getting the client what they needed. Before you hire divorce legal aid, you can interview them and ask any question you could imagine. Consultation is usually free, and it gives you a chance to speak to the person you’ll spend the next few months working with.
