Easiest and cheapest divorce
Discussion
We have been seperated for over 7 years now. She lives in the house with her boyfriend and our 3 children. 10 to 16 years old.
I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
Been there, done that. Only speaking from NZ experience, but I should imagine similar avenues will be available in the UK. If it is amicable it is certainly possible to do the whole thing without any lawyers involved. It is merely a matter of making a list of what each of you expects to come out of the relationship with, compare the lists, and haggle sensibly and logically over what doesn't match up.
All we ended up paying was the court fee for the ultimate dissolution of the marriage. Key is keeping it friendly and, if kids are involved, not expecting them to take sides. Keep other friends and family out of it if at all possible. Ex and I are still on amicable speaking terms 32 years later, despite both having had new OHs for around 20 years, and the children, who were 10 and 8 at the time, have grown up with two loving, but separate, families.
All we ended up paying was the court fee for the ultimate dissolution of the marriage. Key is keeping it friendly and, if kids are involved, not expecting them to take sides. Keep other friends and family out of it if at all possible. Ex and I are still on amicable speaking terms 32 years later, despite both having had new OHs for around 20 years, and the children, who were 10 and 8 at the time, have grown up with two loving, but separate, families.
croyde said:
We have been seperated for over 7 years now. She lives in the house with her boyfriend and our 3 children. 10 to 16 years old.
I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
Stay Amicable - don't give solicitors a sniff of fighting amongst each other. I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
have good communication with your other half throughout the process so that there are no surprises.
Try and sell the house before the divorce, and draw up an agreement of proceeds /split that works for both sides. Then when you get to court, the worst financial part has been potentially dealt with.
My divorce cost around £1300 in total - including court fees etc. As much as i did not want to spend money, i also realised that the solicitor can take away a large portion of the stress - so get one that works on a fixed fee. Then you can speak to them as often as you like to get things like terminology of law explained.
The ex and I agreed on the financial settlement, so I DIY'ed the financial separation documents and got the ex to sign them.
Submitted and went through with no issues.
I then filled in the divorce forms, got the ex to sign them, and I paid the fees.
Was about $500 all in (Australia).
No lawyers were paid in this story.
Submitted and went through with no issues.
I then filled in the divorce forms, got the ex to sign them, and I paid the fees.
Was about $500 all in (Australia).
No lawyers were paid in this story.
You can print out the petition forms online, fill them in yourself and send them to a county court with a cheque for £550 and your marriage certificate. Assuming everything is OK you can then apply for a Decree nisi and once that arrives you have to wait 6 weeks before you can apply for your Decree Absolute (which means you are officially divorced) which costs a further £50.
Anyway, everything you need is here : https://www.gov.uk/divorce/overview
Make sure you fill the forms in correctly otherwise they will send them back which adds weeks and weeks to the process. The forms take less than an hour to fill in but a solicitor will charge you £1000 upwards to do this for you. Honestly it is not that hard.
I tried to use solicitors as little as possible, in my experience they make the process as slow and difficult as possible to get as much money out of you as they can. You are probably looking at upwards of £200 + VAT an hour for a solicitor. I did all the paperwork myself but still ended up spending £2K on various bits of advice which I could have easily found on the internet.
You also need to sort out the finances, and again I recommend you do this as amicably as you can with your ex without involving solicitors. I was quoted a ball park figure of £25K+ each if the divorce has to go to court.
Remember that half that house is yours, try not to just give it away to your ex and her new boyfriend.
Solicitors love divorce, it can be a licence to print money if you let them get carried away.
Anyway, everything you need is here : https://www.gov.uk/divorce/overview
Make sure you fill the forms in correctly otherwise they will send them back which adds weeks and weeks to the process. The forms take less than an hour to fill in but a solicitor will charge you £1000 upwards to do this for you. Honestly it is not that hard.
I tried to use solicitors as little as possible, in my experience they make the process as slow and difficult as possible to get as much money out of you as they can. You are probably looking at upwards of £200 + VAT an hour for a solicitor. I did all the paperwork myself but still ended up spending £2K on various bits of advice which I could have easily found on the internet.
You also need to sort out the finances, and again I recommend you do this as amicably as you can with your ex without involving solicitors. I was quoted a ball park figure of £25K+ each if the divorce has to go to court.
Remember that half that house is yours, try not to just give it away to your ex and her new boyfriend.
Solicitors love divorce, it can be a licence to print money if you let them get carried away.
We met in the pub one night and agreed on the grounds for divorce and also worked out what she was expecting in terms of a financial settlement. Fortunately for me she was reasonably sensible in terms of her expectations.
I used the solicitor managed divorce service on Wikivorce. So total cost to obtain decree absolute was about £700 (£400 of that were court fees)
As I was staying in the family home I needed to re-mortgage to a) pay her off and b) get the deeds / mortgage in my name. This cost all in approx £600.
Took about 6 months from start to finish.
I used the solicitor managed divorce service on Wikivorce. So total cost to obtain decree absolute was about £700 (£400 of that were court fees)
As I was staying in the family home I needed to re-mortgage to a) pay her off and b) get the deeds / mortgage in my name. This cost all in approx £600.
Took about 6 months from start to finish.
Mine was less amicable so I used a solicitor. Certainly couldn't have spent a night in the pub with her.
IMHO that was the best £2500 I ever spent.
They took the stress out and made sure that we nipped and tucked all the financials including the all important, but dull, pensions. They also tied up my transfer of equity into the process giving my ex the right money at the right time which helped all involved.
I expect I could have done it myself, but at the time wasn't inclined to.
IMHO that was the best £2500 I ever spent.
They took the stress out and made sure that we nipped and tucked all the financials including the all important, but dull, pensions. They also tied up my transfer of equity into the process giving my ex the right money at the right time which helped all involved.
I expect I could have done it myself, but at the time wasn't inclined to.
croyde said:
We have been seperated for over 7 years now. She lives in the house with her boyfriend and our 3 children. 10 to 16 years old.
I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
I am one of those nasty grabbing solicitors, albeit I know more about the dark side of the moon than divorce law.I rent a place and have just started seeing someone.
All pretty amicable, I pay a monthly amount to her and help out in other ways as well as having the kids when I can.
House is only really worth something if sold but she and the kids need a home.
So how does one get a divorce that doesn't break the bank and lets those slimy solicitors in to start winding everybody up whilst making a fortune.
I'd rather give up on the house than pay a cent to a solicitor.
Whats the best way to go? I presume, with the kids involved, that a bit of paperwork from WH Smiths won't suffice.
Cheers.
I also got divorced last year following an amicable separation. There were kids to consider, and a deed of financial separation needed sorting out.
I employed a decent local divorce lawyer to sort things out. The whole job cost about £1000, of which about half were court fees.
My Ex didn't bother with a solicitor, which kept the overall costs down. She and I agreed the division of the equity in the house, maintenance for the kids and sorting out a couple of life insurance policies.
I took the view that the extra £500 was money well spent to get the job done properly.
A few things to consider:
1. Have you both got wills? This will need sorting out whether you decide to divorce or not.
2. Is there a mortgage? Presumably you are still a party to it? You want to kill that potential liability.
3. If she is staying in the house, what about division of any equity?
4. A clean break is preferable, just leaving the maintenance to sort out.
My Ex and I sold the matrimonial home, she bought something smaller where she lives with the kids. We agreed that she would take two thirds of the equity so that she could get somewhere decent.
Good luck.
Bibbs said:
The ex and I agreed on the financial settlement, so I DIY'ed the financial separation documents and got the ex to sign them.
Submitted and went through with no issues.
I then filled in the divorce forms, got the ex to sign them, and I paid the fees.
Was about $500 all in (Australia).
No lawyers were paid in this story.
Any chance you could post a link to the relevant site please? Submitted and went through with no issues.
I then filled in the divorce forms, got the ex to sign them, and I paid the fees.
Was about $500 all in (Australia).
No lawyers were paid in this story.
Im about to do the same but live in dubai, soon to be other half is australian, in australia. I just really want to get it done fast and cheap but every site i find seems to be a crock of s
te.It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gary Lineker did it for £410: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-34...
It's still worth speaking to a solicitor IMO, what happens if you win the lottery in 4 years time or she decides she wants a share of your pension pot?
http://www.easydivorce.co.uk/
It's worth a couple of hundred quid to make sure it's done properly.
http://www.easydivorce.co.uk/
It's worth a couple of hundred quid to make sure it's done properly.
https://www.gov.uk/divorce/file-for-divorce
Do it all yourself - it's very easy and not too expensive.
If there are no disputes over money/kids etc, there is no need to involve a solicitor or make any court appearances.
Do it all yourself - it's very easy and not too expensive.
If there are no disputes over money/kids etc, there is no need to involve a solicitor or make any court appearances.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff