How many times in a legal consultation do we get the question, “How much is this going to cost me?” For attorneys who do not work on a contingency fee basis, the answer is … in every single initial client meeting. What surprises me the most as a family lawyer is that many people who thought nothing of spending thousands of dollars on a wedding expect the overall cost of a divorce to be relatively nominal. A wedding is, essentially, a five-hour party; but, somehow, people think that dividing up a marriage full of assets, liabilities and responsibilities for raising children and paying for their expenses should be a quick, cheap process.
My response is always that while I try to settle every divorce as expeditiously and painlessly as possible, the real answer is that, absent a prenup or the ability to speak civilly with each other, most issues have to be negotiated. Now, this does not mean those negotiations have to take place via heated arguments in court. Most divorces can, should and do settle through various avenues that do not involve a courtroom, commonly referred to as alternative dispute resolution.
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