How much?!!!
In yesterday’s Times, I read a report about a divorce where the husband and wife have incurred legal fees between of £1.32 million.
That level of legal costs beggars belief. It sounds like a complicated case, involving allegations that the wife had hidden the true value of shares in her company so that the husband then missed out on a huge pay out a couple of years later. No doubt both parties were instructing expensive London solicitors who all charge at least twice what I do every hour and no doubt they were represented at trial and the later appeal by senior counsel, probably silks. But even so – £1.32 million!
Most people do not have legal costs of that level when the they divorce. I would estimate that sorting out the finances in most cases costs each party between £500 and £10,000 plus VAT, possibly more. If they use the court, rather than non-court alternatives such as negotiations, collaborative process, mediation or arbitration, which tend to be a lot cheaper, then they are likely to have a bill in the region of £20,000 plus VAT, possibly more.
Most people who divorce are not in a position to afford fees of even £20,000 plus VAT. The sensible ones try to reach an agreement without going to court. Many, especially those on low incomes, will be tempted by the “cheap” online divorce options. These tend to take 3 forms.
- A fee of say £99 in return for the forms needed to get divorced.
- A few of say £150 for a lawyer to check the divorce paperwork.
- A fee of say £500 to handle the divorce.
As ever, the devil is in the detail with these things. Firstly, it won’t include VAT, so you need to add on another 20%. Secondly, it won’t include disbursements, such as the court fee of £550.
Option 1, a low fee in return for being given the forms is incredibly poor value for money. The forms are available for the HM Courts & Tribunals Service website for free. Why on earth would you pay for them?
Option, 2, a reduced fee in return for a lawyer checking the papers is not much better. This “lawyer” will probably not be a solicitor, but someone with far less experience and training, hopefully supervised by a solicitor).
Option 3 is the same as what I charge. I have recently celebrated the twentieth anniversary of qualifying a solicitor. I have enormous experience of divorce proceedings. The online divorce provider lawyer probably has far less.
What’s more, none of the above options include any work in relation to financial issues or arrangements for children. My fixed fee one does not include this either, with one notable exception; at the initial consultation with the client, I will cover these issues and give preliminary advice about them, all for the princely sum of £100 plus VAT (which is part of my overall divorce fixed fee of £50 plus VAT and disbursements. (If any further work on those issues is needed after the initial consultation, I do have to charge separately for that work).
And don’t forget, for my fee you get me acting for you. Not a team of people where you never deal with the same person twice.
How come a proper solicitor charges more? You need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Ask yourself – who will be handling my divorce if I use an online divorce provider?
A fixed fee of only £99 plus VAT is very low. It’s even lower than the fee that a solicitor used to receive for acting in a legal aid divorce. When you consider that more and more firms have been giving up legal aid as they find it very difficult to make even a modest profit on such work, you have to ask yourself how will the low cost providers break even? The answer is that that they will use the same strategy that successful legal aid law firms have used for years; they will employ very junior and often unqualified and inexperienced staff who will handle the work, supervised hopefully by a small number of more experienced solicitors. Their websites often refer to the work being checked by an “experienced specialist lawyer”.
“Lawyer” can of course mean a great many things. (See my blog about this from 2014) It can mean a solicitor. It can also mean a completely unqualified paralegal, perhaps with some experience. I note that they are usually very careful to use the word “lawyer” and not “solicitor”. It is difficult not to draw the obvious conclusion that their staff may often have no legal qualifications at all. And just how experienced is “experienced”? Even if you get a solicitor looking after you, there’s no guarantee that they have much experience.
So who would you prefer to handle your divorce? A cheap unqualified “lawyer” or junior solicitor or an experienced and qualified solicitor who is a Resolution accredited family specialist?
- Ask yourself – is it really just £99?
No, it isn’t in most cases. In addition to the £99 fee, you will also have to pay VAT as well as a court fee of £550 when you issue the divorce petition, unless you are on a low income and qualify for a fee exemption.
- Ask yourself – what else do you get for the money?
The answer is not much. I do much more than just process papers. For my fixed fee, you also get:
(a) An initial consultation for £100 plus VAT during which I advise you about the divorce and also give preliminary advice in relation to financial and children issues.
(b) You may be entitled to claim costs from the other side, or costs may be claimed against you. I will negotiate the issue of divorce costs with the other side.
(c) I will prepare the draft divorce petition and submit it to the other side for their consideration before it is issued. This approach is in line with the Resolution Code of Practice and Guides to Good Practice and helps keep acrimony to a minimum, which will help you and your ex reach an agreement about other issues. An online divorce provider’s fee will be far too low to include this additional work.
There will always be people for whom cost is the most significant factor when they consider which option they should use. If your priority is to ensure that you get the right outcome for you and your family, then a low cost divorce provider may well be a very false economy.
Online divorce can seem cheap, but that confuses price with value.
15 October 2016