How much does a divorce cost?
One of the first questions people often ask me when considering divorce is: how much is this going to cost?
The slightly frustrating answer is: it depends.
A straightforward divorce can be relatively inexpensive. A separation involving contested finances and/or disagreements about children can cost many thousands of pounds – cases which go to court can (but don't always) cost considerably more.
Part of the confusion is that when people talk about the "cost of a divorce", they are often talking about several different things.
The divorce itself
The legal process of ending your marriage is now relatively straightforward in England and Wales.
Under the no-fault divorce system, you do not need to prove that either person was responsible for the breakdown of the marriage, and you can make the application yourself, in which case you may have no legal fees on top of the court fee. Alternatively, you can instruct a solicitor to deal with the divorce application for you.
At the time of writing, the court fee for making a divorce application is £628.
The cost of paying a solicitor to deal with a straightforward application will depend on whether they offer a fixed fee, or charge an hourly rate. The cheapest fixed fee seems to be around £600 + VAT, and on an hourly basis it may even be less than this. It is always worth speaking to several lawyers to see who you would like to work with, and considering whether the cheapest option is the one that suits you best. In particular, firms can attract clients by offering cheap divorces, but charging more for working on the financial and children agreements.
Importantly: getting divorced just dissolves your marriage - it does not sort out your finances and it does not make arrangements for your children. Those are separate issues.
What happens to our finances?
Divorce ends your marriage. It does not, by itself, bring your financial claims against one another to an end.
If you do not obtain a financial order, your financial ties will remain open after divorce. Depending on the circumstances, a former spouse may potentially be able to make a claim relating to income, capital, property or pensions at a later date.
This is why most lawyers will advise you to ensure that you have a financial order in place that dismisses all future claims between you and your ex-spouse. This is also known as a clean break order.
If you and your former spouse reach an agreement about your finances, that agreement can usually be recorded in a consent order and submitted to the court for approval. The current court fee is £62. The legal fees for drafting a consent order will vary considerably depending on how complex your agreement is, but you can find cheap options only for a few hundred pounds, or asking a traditional lawyer to prepare this for you will usually cost at least around £750 + VAT. This would tend to cover drafing a basic clean break order and possibly a review of the Statement of Information which will also need to be filed with the court at the same time as the draft consent order. If you want a solicitor to deal with making the application to the court and so on, you can expect to pay more because it will take more of their time.
What happens if I remarry without sorting out my finances?
If you remarry before obtaining a financial order or making the appropriate financial application, you will usually lose the ability to make certain financial claims against your former spouse.
Importantly, that does not necessarily work both ways.
If your former spouse has not remarried, they may still be able to make a financial claim against you even though you can no longer make the equivalent claim against them.
There are technical exceptions and different rules can apply to particular types of financial claim, so if you are considering remarriage and have not resolved the finances from your previous marriage, it is particularly important to obtain legal advice.
What if we cannot agree about money?
If you cannot agree, you do not necessarily need to go straight to court.
You might negotiate directly, use solicitors, attend mediation or use another form of dispute resolution.
If an agreement still cannot be reached, either person can apply to the Family Court for a financial remedy. The current court application fee is £321.
The £321 court fee is generally a very small part of the overall cost of contested proceedings.
This is where solicitors' fees, barristers' fees and sometimes experts' fees become important.
What is the difference between a solicitor's fee and a barrister's fee?
A solicitor will usually manage your case on an ongoing basis.
They will likely advise you, correspond with your former partner or their solicitor, negotiate on your behalf, prepare court documents, deal with financial disclosure, instruct experts and prepare your case for hearings.
Solicitors generally charge according to the amount of time they spend working on your case.
Hourly rates vary considerably according to location and experience. As a very broad illustration, you might encounter hourly rates somewhere in the region of £200–£600 plus VAT, although rates can be lower or higher.
Importantly, you are not only paying for meetings with your solicitor. Time spent reading and writing emails, considering documents, drafting letters, speaking to other professionals and preparing for hearings will also be charged.
That is why a case involving dozens of emails and repeated disputes over relatively small issues can become expensive surprisingly quickly.
A barrister is usually brought in for a particular piece of specialist work – most commonly to advise on a case or represent someone at a court hearing.
Barristers are often paid a fixed fee for the hearing, rather than charging the client throughout the case in the way a solicitor usually does.
The fee will depend on the barrister's experience, the complexity of the case, the amount of preparation required and the length and type of hearing.
As a very rough illustration, barristers with around 4 years experience may charge around £2,000 + VAT for a First Hearing in a children dispute (called a FHDRA), a barrister with around 20 years experience may be charging more like £4,000 + VAT for the same hearing, and maybe £6,000/£7,000 + VAT for a Final Hearing. More senior barristers, King's Counsel and particularly complex cases can cost considerably more.
The barrister's fee will be in addition to your solicitor's fees. Your solicitor may spend considerable time preparing the case and instructing the barrister before the hearing. You may therefore receive a solicitor's bill for preparation as well as a separate barrister's fee for representation.
What about experts?
Some cases also require specialist evidence, some of which can cost several thousand pounds.
For example, you might need:
a property valuation;
an accountant to value a business;
a pension expert to advise on pension sharing; or
another specialist report.
Those costs are additional again and are another reason why two divorces can have completely different price tags.
What about the children?
Divorce also does not determine where your children live or how much time they spend with each parent.
Many parents agree these arrangements themselves, sometimes with the assistance of mediation or solicitors.
If you cannot agree, it may become necessary to make an application to the Family Court. The current court fee for an application such as a Child Arrangements Order is £270.
Again, that is only the court fee. Solicitors' and barristers' fees are additional.
So what does a divorce actually cost?
I think it is more useful to think of separation as a spectrum than to give a single figure.
At one end might be a couple who:
complete the divorce application themselves;
agree arrangements for their children;
reach a straightforward agreement about their finances; and
ask a solicitor to advise on and formalise that agreement.
At the other might be a couple who:
cannot agree about finances;
have complicated property, pensions or businesses;
require extensive financial disclosure;
instruct solicitors and barristers;
need expert evidence;
attend several financial hearings; and
are also involved in separate proceedings about their children.
Both couples are "getting divorced". Their legal costs may bear almost no resemblance to one another.
What makes divorce expensive?
Often, it is not the divorce itself that is expensive. It is unresolved disagreement.
Complexity matters, of course. A family with several properties, businesses, trusts or complicated pensions will naturally require more legal work than one with straightforward finances, but complexity and conflict are not the same thing. A couple can have substantial assets and resolve matters constructively. Conversely, people with relatively modest assets can spend a disproportionate amount of money arguing about them. Every solicitor's letter, email, telephone call and court application costs money. One of the most useful questions to keep asking is therefore: Is the amount I am spending arguing about this proportionate to what is actually at stake?
Is the cheapest approach always the best?
No.
Sometimes spending money on good legal advice early on saves a great deal of money later.
This is particularly true of financial arrangements. Reaching an informal agreement without understanding your legal position – or getting divorced and simply assuming your finances are now "done" – can create much bigger problems in the future.
However, that aim should not necessarily be to spend as little as possible. It might be better to think about how to spend money proportionately and intelligently, using the right professional for the right problem and avoiding unnecessary conflict wherever possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
If we agree our finances between ourselves, do we still need a financial order?
It is generally sensible to obtain legal advice about formalising your agreement.
An informal agreement between you does not necessarily prevent either person from making financial claims later. A court-approved consent order can make the agreement legally binding and, where appropriate, provide for a clean break.
Does the Final Order in my divorce end our financial ties?
No. The Final Order legally ends your marriage. It does not automatically dismiss financial claims between you.
Can my ex make a financial claim years after we divorce?
Potentially, yes, if financial claims have not been properly resolved. This is one of the reasons obtaining a financial order can be so important even where a divorce is amicable.
What happens if I remarry before getting a financial order?
You may fall into the "remarriage trap" and lose the ability to bring certain financial claims against your former spouse. Your former spouse may nevertheless retain claims against you if they have not remarried.
If you are considering remarriage and have unresolved finances from an earlier marriage, take legal advice before remarrying.
Can I keep my legal costs under control?
Often, yes.
Ask your solicitor about costs at the outset and request regular updates. Think carefully about which issues genuinely require legal input. Consider mediation and other forms of dispute resolution where appropriate. And remember that your solicitor does not necessarily need to be the person you speak to every time you are angry, frightened or unsure what to do next. Coaching, counselling and other forms of support can sometimes provide a more appropriate – and considerably less expensive – space for working through those issues.
The figures in this article are intended as illustrations only and will vary between professionals and cases. Court fees are correct at the time of writing. This article relates to family law in England and Wales and provides general information rather than legal advice about your individual circumstances.
Many of the people I work with contact me before they have made any firm decisions about their future. Whether you are considering separation, have recently separated, or simply want to understand your options, I offer a free initial conversation to discuss your circumstances and how I may be able to help. You can contact me by telephone - 0777 589 4910, email - polly@pollyjackman.com or by using the contact form on this website.
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