Getting a divorce is never an easy option, but trying to do it yourself may be a false economy. A solicitor is impartial and takes the emotion out of the situation so they can work in your best interests as shown by the following case, where a man who chose to go it alone ended up paying £290,000 in legal fees and had his assets frozen, a high price to pay for being unreasonable.
The man had been divorced for over 15 years and throughout that period there were disputes over the amount of maintenance he should pay for his youngest child, who he denied was his even though DNA tests had proved otherwise. The money itself wasn’t a problem as he was a man of wealth.
He instigated court challenges over this time which resulted in his assets being frozen and a receiver appointed to make sure that his ex-wife finally received all monies owing to her. Added to that were the legal costs which were triple the total of outstanding maintenance. The High Court stated that this was due to his unreasonable behaviour in this matter had therefore cost him far more than it needed to.
The total costs which included arrears of £114,000, a £25,000 contribution to university fees along with the costs of the receiver gave a total of nearly £600,000 as a liability. So far almost £400,000 had been recovered and the rest would come from frozen assets to a value of £300,000 until the rest of the outstanding money was paid.
Had this man used a solicitor he would have been advised differently and saved himself a great deal of money.
If you are considering a divorce or would like more information about how to proceed then please contact us by telephone at our Corby office on 01536 276300 or call our Kettering office on 01536 311690 or simply get in touch online by clicking here. We also have free downloadable information guides, please see here for more information.