Husband divorcing me, quick question...

hayley11

My (ex) husband is going to file for divorce but I am not in a position to pay for a divorce, a couple of people have said to me that if he is the one applying for the divorce, I don't need to pay anything? But I was under the impression both sides had to pay something?

I've had a look on this forum and also on the internet but can't find anything...

Thanks in advance

Hayley

glitterycloud

hi Hayley, im not really sure on this but does it depend on the reason for the divorce? I divorced my ex and as the reason was adultry he ended up paying for it. Im sure some more knowledgeable person will be along shortly to give you an answer.
hth
((Big hugs to you))

floss2

I divorced my ex at no cost to me on legal aid (came through over 7 years ago) but his solicitor's bill was quite high because he didn't respond to letters & also had to be chased when he moved house.

I would guess that if you do not need to engage a solicitor (i.e. no children or money issues to sort out) then there should be little in the way of costs to you.

Classy_Chick06

I dont know about the costs, but my x decided to file for divorce a year ago, and i agreed to it, on the grounds of 2 year seperation with consent... I agreed with him on the understanding that he could have his divorce as long as it didnt cost me anything...
I did qualify for legal aid, as only work part time and have children, however, when i got the agreement through, his solicitor was proposing that i pay for all costs via my legal aid...
needless to say, i didnt sign the papers, so we are still legally married..

floss2

Classy_Chick06 wrote: »

I dont know about the costs, but my x decided to file for divorce a year ago, and i agreed to it, on the grounds of 2 year seperation with consent... I agreed with him on the understanding that he could have his divorce as long as it didnt cost me anything...
I did qualify for legal aid, as only work part time and have children, however, when i got the agreement through, his solicitor was proposing that i pay for all costs via my legal aid...
needless to say, i didnt sign the papers, so we are still legally married..

Can I ask why you didn't agree to this...? If you qualified for legal aid, then legal aid would have picked up the costs up to their limit on divorces.....This is why I divorced my husband despite him wanting to divorce me (the slight matter of breakdown of marriage due to his adultery was going to cause him a problem anyway )

frivolous_fay

My mum was in denial when my dad filed for divorce.
Then she found out that there was another woman in the picture, and she decided to dig her heels in.

She refused to take on a solicitor (why pay money when she could just ring up dad's?)

This month, after over a year of grief, their finances were finally settled in court. Dad thought he could get more than 50% - he turned out to be wrong. Mum represented herself. Mum was highly amused to inform him that as he had pursued the legal action, he would be footing the bill.

Classy_Chick06

floss2 wrote: »

Can I ask why you didn't agree to this...? If you qualified for legal aid, then legal aid would have picked up the costs up to their limit on divorces.....This is why I divorced my husband despite him wanting to divorce me (the slight matter of breakdown of marriage due to his adultery was going to cause him a problem anyway )

the reason i didnt agree to go along with his wishes was because i wanted him to put his hand in his pocket, since he left us, he has got off scott free, he hasnt paid nor contributed anythig towards the house nor the children, i am only just this week in the process of receiving a payment from the CSA from him, having been fighting with them for the past years, i finally went to my MP who has assured me that i will receive a payment before 12th August..

frannyann

I divorced my husband on grounds of his adultery. I paid for it all, he didn't instruct a solictor so paid nothing. My solicitor got us to agree terms before hand and then she did the paperwork and did it for a fixed fee £850 (about 8 years ago) Because I got him to buy me out of our house, I used the money to pay the divorce costs. Worth it to get shot of the cheating git TBH!!

Savvy_Sue

Remember that even if the initial costs are met by Legal Aid, you may still have to pay at a later date. For example, if you (and your hopefully soon-to-be ex) own a house, a charge will be put on that so that your legal aid is paid first when it's sold. And interest continues to be added to the debt.

It's all explained here.

So it's very wise NOT to allow all the costs to be put to one party "because they're claiming Legal Aid".

SuziQ

I ended up paying for the whole of my divorce from my first husband,as after the initial few weeks he worked out how expensive it all was and refused to use one any more. I therefore had extra costs as my solicitor did everything and took pains to make sure my ex understood that he could lose out without legal advice etc! As for the fees the person citing divorce pays those-and they ain't cheap!(although I expect a lot of folk feel they are cheap to get out of a bad relationship!) I had to pay towards my legal aid as I was assessed on my p/time work,luckily what I paid every month more than covered the final bill and I was even sent £25 back!
One thing to note re Legal aid. As someone said earlier,you do have to repay. However the hourly rates and per letter etc is much less from a solicitor using the legal aid system,therefore although you have to repay it can still be a good option for an mse divorce!

floss2

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Remember that even if the initial costs are met by Legal Aid, you may still have to pay at a later date. For example, if you (and your hopefully soon-to-be ex) own a house, a charge will be put on that so that your legal aid is paid first when it's sold. And interest continues to be added to the debt.

It's all explained here.

So it's very wise NOT to allow all the costs to be put to one party "because they're claiming Legal Aid".

Just to elaborate on my personal circumstances - there was approximately £10k of equity in the house but the building society were starting repossession after ex stoppped paying when he left and I couldn't afford to pay the mortgage without his salary, it cost us each £850 to pay off fixed rate fee, repay £3,500 cash-back, pay off 3 months of arrears and pay estate agents & solicitors bills, after being in that house for 18 months so because there was no house to be sorted my financial settlement for 15 years of marriage was £2,500, within the rules of the legal aid scheme (in 2001).

Happiness is worth so much more than that paltry sum.