If you feel like you should not spend more on your divorce than you did with your wedding, you are in good company. Few people really want to spend the money it takes to go through a litigated divorce. Indeed, your emotions may lead you to believe that a divorce has to be a war, but it doesn’t have to be that way. After all, if faced with the prospect of saving money so that you can begin your post divorce life financially stable, why not do so?
With that said, it is important to make sure you take opportunities to reduce the cost of divorce. This post will highlight a few ways you can do so.
File a joint petition – If you and your spouse have reached agreements on all aspects of your divorce, including child custody, parenting time, and property division, you can file a Joint Petition for Divorce. This way, you do not have to worry about filing an Answer to a divorce complaint, and you only have to go to court one time.
Treat the process as a business transaction – Business deals are completed based on numbers, and not necessarily emotions. So another way to limit the cost of a divorce is to avoid emotional battles based on what prompted the breakdown of the marriage.
Try to mediate your disputes – Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution where a neutral third party works with the parties to facilitate a resolution that both parties can live with. Although both parties should retain their own attorneys to review the final agreement, mediation will typically be less expensive than litigation because the parties are sharing the cost of the mediator.
The preceding is not legal advice. If you have additional questions about the potential costs surrounding divorce, an experienced family law attorney can advise you.