This is what our Site is trying to achieve……..
“‘My lawyer advised us to settle as much as possible ourselves’ Alison, 45, Kent
My ex and I managed to have one of those rare things — an amicable divorce. My solicitor was excellent; he advised me from the start to try to settle as much as we could between ourselves without involving lawyers. That advice not only saved us thousands but it kept us talking, forced us to be civil, and I think that’s why we still have an OK relationship four years later.
We were realistic. We both needed a place to live, somewhere the children could feel was home. We didn’t have much in the way of savings and so that meant selling our family home and each finding somewhere smaller. I think an amicable divorce is only possible when both parties want the marriage to end, and both of you put the children’s needs and emotions ahead of your own.”
These are what my Site is trying to stop………
“Nothing prepared me for what happened next. My husband played the injured party because I’d initiated proceedings. His infidelities were brushed aside and I was treated like a grade-one gold-digger. The costs? £750 an hour (plus VAT). And it snowballed: a year and a half of bitter wrangling and our legal bill stood at £1 million.”
“For the next three years, however, she paid £40,000 a month in legal bills for ‘liaising, chasing up and drafting’ and ‘hiring private detectives to track him around Europe’.”
“— disclosure of income, pension, bank statements. My solicitor would write letter after letter, each one costing me more than I could afford. She was local and quite gentle. In the end, her fees came to £47,000.”
“‘I had to take out a loan to pay the £110,000 fees’ Kirsty, 47, East Sussex
When we started, my solicitor estimated that the legal fees would be around £45,000, but it soon crept up to double that.”
“My ex’s solicitor was very young; she’d just set up her own practice and I think she was trying to prove herself. She wrote letters all the time, but my solicitor refused to get involved in the tittle tattle. She’d say, ‘There’s nothing I can do except write a letter back and then they’ll write another one and you’ll be no further down the line — and it’ll be a huge cost to you.’”
“‘Every session with the solicitor cost a fortune’ Emma, 57, Sheffield
I had no idea how much divorce would cost. It’s not as if solicitors have a price list on the wall. I’m not a stupid person, I’m well educated, but I don’t work in a profession where every six minutes, you’ve clocked up another £25.”