How Much Will a Divorce Cost?

This is another incredibly common question, and understandably so. People enter the dissolution process terrified by stories about massive legal bills, and scenarios where the lawyers got more than the parties divorcing. Below, I will do my best to break down the common issues in determining how much a divorce might cost in Snohomish County. As usual, the correct answer is "it depends," because it certainly does depend on several factors. I will try to outline those factors, and give you some advice on how you can save money.

Pro Se - the "Do It Yourself" Route - A lot of people conclude that the easiest way to reduce costs in a divorce is to simply avoid hiring lawyers. It is certainly possible to get through the entire process yourself, but it is fraught with pitfalls. Divorces are extremely complicated endeavors. Even simple divorces with no children involve a staggering amount of paperwork and knowledge about how to file and serve the pleadings, negotiate a disposition, draft that disposition into final orders, and enter them with the court. These processes are complicated further when there are things like parenting plans, child support, or complex asset divisions. (Even as a seasoned lawyer, I often hire specialists do to things like divide pensions.)

I have assisted several clients who got through a divorce pro se, only to discover after the fact that they agreed to a horrible parenting plan or gave up an absurd amount of money. (I have had a few clients that literally lost hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been avoided with a few thousand dollars in attorney's fees.) If you opt to go this route, you may save money but you commit yourself to an enormous amount of work in fumbling through the process, and risk of a really bad outcome.

Hourly Rates - Divorce lawyers typically bill at an hourly rate. In the area where I practice (Snohomish County), rates seem to range between $275 an hour (new attorney) to $450 an hour (very seasoned specialist). If you go closer to Seattle, my understanding is that those rates can skyrocket. For those wanting to save money, it may seem as if hiring the cheapest lawyer is the way to go, but this is not necessarily the case. Even if you get a young lawyer that is brilliant and "learning the ropes," there is a cost to that. A seasoned lawyer will recognize pathways to resolution that novice will not. It is not uncommon to see a courtroom filled with young lawyers that are learning some of the practice's lessons the hard way at a client's expense, where an older and wiser lawyer might simply pick up the phone. Family law is a very localized practice, and a working knowledge of the people on the bench and how they might decide cases is absolutely essential. It is, unfortunately, not something taught in law school.

Selecting a lawyer is a different blog topic (stay tuned), but just realize that you are looking for the person with the right tools for your job, and given what is at stake, it is worth hiring the right one.

More Moving Parts - More Money - Generally speaking, the more complicated a divorce is, the more it will cost. In that sense, custody cases or cases involving a domestic violence protection order will cost more than cases where those things are absent.

Less Conflict - Less Money - Of course, I kind of look at these things like the X and Y coordinates on a graph. If your X coordinate is complexity, that increases costs. The Y coordinate is always the level of conflict between the parties. A simple divorce with no kids and little property (low on complexity) can still skyrocket in court if the parties are always feuding (high in conflict).

What You Can Control - there are several ways in which you can moderate the cost of a divorce. The first and foremost is to be organized. Knowing you are paying a lawyer and his/her paralegals hourly, come to appointments and phone calls with a clear list of what you want to discuss. If you are asked for documents, bring them neatly organized, labelled, and with a scanned copy. You would not believe how much money people are willing to pay lawyers to avoid being organized. My philosophy is that if a task is a simple one that does not require legal training, I usually ask a client to assist with it in order to reduce their bill.

I also sometimes ask clients to work on their communication skills with the other party. Games of "telephone" between parties and their lawyers get costly fast. I often joke with clients that therapists are substantially cheaper than lawyers. If you have the ability to communicate with the other party and solve the day to day problems and leave the really technical, complex things to the lawyers, this can result in enormous savings. I know there can be an overwhelming temptation to verbally lash out at the other party in divorce proceedings, but whatever relief that provides, it is completely negated by the damage, the cost, and the ways it makes the process difficult.

As you look at legal costs in a case, you should always be asking yourself (with brutal honesty), "How much of this expense is because of my behavior?" Given that is one of the few things in the process you can control, you should do so.

Money Talks - From the outset, your lawyer should speak with you about the financial demands of the case. While I cannot know exactly what it will cost, I do work with my client to figure out how they will make an initial advanced fee deposit and what we are going to do when that is depleted. At every stage of the case (initial filing, temporary orders, discovery, mediation, trial preparation, trial, post-trial motions, appeals), you should speak to your lawyer and get a description of how much work has to be done, and roughly what the lawyer might expect it to cost.

In some instances, the parties have the resources (or can make arrangements) to have a lawyer with them for the entire journey. If your resources only afford help with a certain portion of the case, talk with your lawyer to plan that. If I am setting up a client to represent themselves in the later stages of the case, it is hugely helpful to know that up front.

Read Your Bill Carefully - The last thing about billing (and I make my clients promise to do this), is to read their bill carefully and ask me about any charges they do not understand or agree with. You are putting your future in your lawyer's hands. You should have total clarity about what is being done on your matter and why. All too often, I see clients and lawyers only discuss billing when it becomes a problem. The far better practice is for both parties to be totally engaged from the beginning, and only proceed if both parties are totally satisfied with the financial relationship.

Hopefully this has given you some guidance on what is doubtless one of the most stressful aspects of a divorce or custody case. If you have any questions, you are free to reach out to me or call my office at 425-259-2222 and I'm happy to discuss this issue in more detail.

As always, good luck.