How much should a ‘simple’ divorce really cost?

WaveyDavey72

Hi all,

I got divorced last year and the house has finally sold recently. I’m currently renting with my new partner, getting towards retirement age and need to buy something with my share of the equity ideally.

My issue is that my matrimonial solicitors have charged me £11K for their services when their initial estimate was £1,800 (if resolved quickly) - £5,000 (if not). The costs were not clear at the outset with my solicitors hourly rate missing form the TOBL (terms of business letter).

My ex was admittedly quite litigious and it took three years in total, but it never went to court, with the email count to me from my solicitor at about 80. Their massive bill taken out of the sale proceeds is really restricting what I can actually buy to live out the rest of my days in.

I complained to them about the exorbitant bill as I was not expecting it to be that high and they have just fobbed me off saying it’s correct and there’s also a lot of lies in their response claiming the cost of their service was clarified quickly when it took several weeks to get it out of my solicitor. £75 an hour. There’s no way he can claim to have spent nearly £150 hours on my case although I appreciate there are court fees to be included.

Does this sound reasonable? I’ve escalated my complaint to the legal ombudsman who are looking into it but it will apparently take them months.

Thanks for reading and any help or advice would be very welcome

TonyMMM

For work done over 3 years it doesn't sound excessive compared to what I know friends/colleagues have spent on divorces in the past.

But, £75 per hour for a solicitor seems extremely cheap, are you sure about that ?

HedgehogRulez

what on earth is “£150 hours”?

Jude57

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925940#Comment_81925940

I imagine the OP has calculated that £11,000 divided by £75 (the hourly rate he was apparently given by his solicitor which is being questioned as it seems exceptionally low) and arrived at approximately 150 hours. I suspect the £ sign is a typing error.

WaveyDavey72

Yeah. It was a typo the ‘£’ sign sorry. I’m sure it was £75 but could be wrong as the whole cost of the ‘advice’ was an exercise in obfuscation from the get go.

As I said it was left off their initial letter and to me, never fully clarified. It was only in their complaint response they claimed the estimate provided at the start was £1,800 - £5K. In their complaint response they claimed their records showed that they confirmed the actual hourly rate in writing within a week but this no other letter was received.

I don’t expect their work to be pro bono but just feel completely fleeced when I look back at the work he’s actually done for £11K and wish I’d never even appointed a solicitor.

It was merely a house to be sold and split after all and because we had no mortgage I think he thought he could ‘take the Michael Hiss’.

A couple I know were in the same situation and actually went to court with barristers etc and paid £8K for a similar simple divorce. The ombudsman have been quite sympathetic and friends and family I have spoken to have been completely shocked so we’ll see what they say.

VyEu

Did they never raise a bill in three years??

Tbh 1.5k for a non contested divorce is cheap as is 5k for a contested one (no way that covers barristers fees and/or goes anyway near the final hearing!). 11k for three years' worth of work does not sound unreasonable