It’s worth noting that regardless of how you decide to deal with your divorce, there are mandatory court-filing fees to pay that are currently £593.
In total it is estimated that the typical cost of legal fees is an average of £2,679 per spouse and couples with children or complicated financial arrangements can expect legal fees to be a lot more expensive.
What are the court fees for a divorce?
The court-filing cost of £593 in England and Wales is mandatory unless you are eligible for help through a scheme called Fee Exemption.
The cost of your divorce can be reduced If you meet the criteria for fee exemption. For example, if you are on low income or receive certain benefits such as income support, income-based jobseekers’ allowance or employment and support allowance.
If you think you may meet the criteria for fee exemption it is advisable to check the Fee Remission Rules before applying for divorce, as this could dramatically reduce the cost.
For most people, legal aid for divorces ceased in 2013, though in some exceptional circumstances, you may be entitled to legal aid if there has been domestic abuse or domestic violence.
You are able to apply for legal aid to pay for a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM), although this too is means-tested.
Divorce Solicitors Costs
As previously mentioned, a divorce solicitor’s costs usually vary on a case-by-case basis depending on how complicated your financial affairs are.
Factors that will dictate the cost of your divorce are whether both parties have come to an agreement on the divorce and have agreed on the financial split.
If you and your ex-partner can both agree on major issues like child maintenance, custody of children, and splitting the family home & finances it will undoubtedly help keep the cost of divorce lower by avoiding additional legal costs.
But we believe divorce costs don’t have to break the bank, especially when there is an agreement between parties.
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How to save over £1,000 on the cost of your divorce
You may be reading the heading thinking, can I really save that much money on solicitor’s fees? The honest answer is yes, you really can.
But for now, if you are considering a divorce then it’s likely that your first step will be to receive quotes from your local high-street solicitors.
We recommend that you do this because we are confident it will highlight the amount of money our online divorce services will save for you.
In reality, 90% of divorce applicants don’t require the assistance of a solicitor to get a divorce. Though it’s always wise to receive initial legal advice to ensure you fully understand your legal position.
But, do you really need to spend £1,500 + court fees (£593) simply for a lawyer to draft the divorce papers and process them through the courts? Unless your individual divorce case is complicated then the answer is likely to be no you don’t.
What are the differences between high-street solicitors and divorce online?
When deciding how to proceed with a divorce, the cost is usually one of the main factors, alongside how quickly the divorce can be dealt with.
The average cost of a divorce application that is handled by high-street solicitors in England and Wales is £1079 + court fees (£593) = £1672 Total
In comparison, the average cost of Divorce-Online through our Managed Divorce Service is £199 + court fees (£593) = £792 Total
That’s a massive saving of £880 and remember the solicitors’ costs above just cover the divorce application only.
The average cost of solicitor’s fees is more likely to be in the region of £2,679 per spouse when additional costs like handling a financial settlement is included.
Reaching a financial settlement
If you have reached a divorce financial settlement then you require the assistance of a solicitor to help draft a financial consent order that is then approved by a court.
This will naturally add to the costs of divorce, but this is where getting an online divorce becomes more beneficial, not only to your experience of obtaining a divorce but also to your wallet.
If you look at most solicitors firms’ websites, they only offer fixed-fee services for divorce applications.
These fixed-price services do not cover financial agreements. So, let’s look again at the cost of divorce when using a solicitors firm to handle your divorce and a financial order agreement.
The cost of the financial agreement will depend on the complexity of your agreement, but for argument’s sake, we are making the assumption that it’s fairly straightforward.
You can find high-street lawyers offering consent order services from £450+VAT (£540 total), however on top of this is a mandatory court fee of £50, which brings the divorce bill to £2,262 (including the divorce application cost)
You may find the odd solicitors firm offering a fixed-price service that covers both the divorce and financial settlement, but they are few and we can assure you that they will be considerably more expensive than our Managed Divorce & Consent Order Service for just £499 fixed-fee.
What other issues can affect the cost of divorce?
The main issue that can affect the cost of a divorce is not knowing where your spouse lives.
If you don’t have a current address for your spouse then you need to follow a ‘No Contact Divorce’ process, which unfortunately can have more costs associated with it.
If this scenario sounds like what you’re facing, read our article on getting divorced without an address for your spouse.
If you are able to come to an agreement with your spouse and you have an address where the divorce papers can be sent then you can achieve an affordable divorce.
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In most cases, it’s unnecessary to spend thousands on your divorce. If both parties agree to the divorce and you have reached an agreement on your money and assets then the process be stress-free and straightforward.
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