Ask anybody who has been through a divorce themselves, or who has somebody close to them who has gone through the experience, and one of the first things they’re likely to comment on is the tremendous expense involved. Though your focus may be on the emotional and logistical impact of ending your marriage, the divorce process itself can be remarkably expensive. The good news is that there are several practical ways to limit divorce costs. Here are some helpful hints on how to minimize divorce’s financial impact.

• Be cooperative with document requests. You may not want to supply the information that has been requested, and filling out forms is certainly frustrating, but remember that in the legal world time is money. The longer you delay or resist the process, the more requests your attorney needs to send you, and you’re going to be billed each and every time. Also, don’t rely on your attorney to gather the information or get it from an outside source – doing that will be much more expensive than providing it yourself.
• Resist responding to every provocation with a phone call to your attorney’s office. It’s easy to get upset by something your spouse has said or done, and if it’s an emergency you should call right away. But if they’re just being irritating or immature, or if you receive a notification in the mail of a court date or filing, remember that calling your divorce lawyer sets the clock running, and you’ll be billed for their time. It’s much more cost effective to talk to an empathetic friend, or write down what happened in a journal. That way you’ll have a record, and when you have your next scheduled appointment or call with your lawyer you can review your journal and decide whether it was important enough to bring up with them then. In many cases, after the initial feeling of upset has passed you’ll realize that it was just an annoyance that wasn’t worth the billable hours.
• Be willing to be reasonable. When you’re going through a divorce it is tempting to fight over every aspect and want to have your day in court, but mediation and negotiation is much less expensive and can help move your life forward with less pain and frustration.

If you are considering divorce, you need a compassionate legal advocate who will listen to your goals and help you move forward with as little frustration as possible. Call our office today to learn more about our divorce services.