Divorce and legal aid.

Gorgeous_George

I did my own divorce some years ago. Cost me about £60 including £10 to send a court bailiff to serve the petition on the co-respondent. Money well spent. Even back then, it cost me less than a solicitor would charge per hour!

Click here to get the info you need.

Only recommended if it's quite straight forward and amicable. My ex-wife thought I was being amicable, even when I timed it so the papers arrived over Christmas.

Good luck.

GG

Bossyboots

The actual cost of issuing a divorce petition now is £300. Then there is a £40 fee for the decree absolute. This is the downside of not using a solicitor if you are entitled to legal help through the legal aid scheme as those fees are not then payable. You are also exempt from fees if you are on income support or one of the other qualifying benefits.

Then there are of course bailiff's fees on top if you need to serve personally and I think they are currently £60.

Gorgeous_George

I thought Legal Aid had to be repaid under certain circumstances.

Personally, I think it's wrong to use LA and incur huge costs for the taxpayer in order to avoid a personal bill of a few hundred pounds. A flaw in the system perhaps?



GG

Bossyboots

Gorgeous_George wrote:

I thought Legal Aid had to be repaid under certain circumstances.

Personally, I think it's wrong to use LA and incur huge costs for the taxpayer in order to avoid a personal bill of a few hundred pounds. A flaw in the system perhaps?



GG

Legal aid has to be repaid if you preserve or gain assets as a result of the proceedings for which legal aid has been granted. The advantage of legal aid is that the solicitor is paid a lower hourly rate so you get more hours for your money.

In the case of purely a divorce, there would be nothing gained or retained so no costs to be paid back. Once you tag the ancillary proceedings on though, then these are subject to the rule of being paid back and this would include the divorce costs.

There is in fact now a fixed fee payable to the solicitor for the actual divorce so it would be known at the outset what those costs are and they can only go above the fee in exceptional circumstances. Being advised under this scheme allows exemption from the court fees.

Its all well and good saying legal aid shouldn't be used to save a few hundred pounds, but many people stuck in difficult circumstances do not have those few hundred pounds to spend. With the fixed fee scheme a divorce on legal aid costs the taxpayer between £250 - £500 depending on certain circumstances.

TIGs

Gorgeous_George wrote:

I thought Legal Aid had to be repaid under certain circumstances.

Personally, I think it's wrong to use LA and incur huge costs for the taxpayer in order to avoid a personal bill of a few hundred pounds. A flaw in the system perhaps?



GG

I AREN'T trying to avoid a bill of a few hundred pounds if it comes down to it will pay it but this will mean having to wait even longer till the divorce is done. I'm a single mum who goes out to work and do the best i can. I'm in a no win situation in some peoples eyes as if i didn't go to work i'd be slagged off for sponging, if i worked full time i'd be slagged off for having kids but not looking after them myself, so i try to do both.i don't expect anything for nothing but a little help along the way doesn't go a miss.

I work to make sure my kids get the things they need, as well as trying to be at home for them when they are home. But while they think mum and dad are still married they live in hope one day we will get back together.

Should i stay married to a man i no longer love because i can't afford a divorce???

Veedubya

I have typed up an example financial consent form and posted it in this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2716317&posted=1#post2716317

Hope it helps. Any comments will be appreciated.