Updated on September 27, 2024
There is no denying that divorce is expensive. Even a quickie divorce in which you and your soon-to-be ex are in total agreement about everything is going to cost you, and a DIY divorce can end up costing you far more than you bargained for when it comes to the terms you end up with.
This said, there are things you can do to help keep the cost of your divorce in the reasonable range – with your parenting and financial rights intact. One of the most important factors when it comes to protecting your rights in a divorce is working closely with an experienced Round Rock divorce attorney from the very beginning.
Assessing the Divorce Landscape
It is next to impossible to predict what your divorce will cost you from the outside looking in. In fact, the cost will hinge on several primary factors – some of which you have control over and some of which you do not.
While every divorce is unique to the specific situation at hand and will, ultimately, cost what it costs, there are several factors that can provide you with a pretty good feel for what you’re looking at in terms of expense.
You’re in Agreement about the Divorce Itself
If you and your spouse are in agreement that you need a divorce, it’s a better place to start than if one of you is insisting on a divorce while the other is fighting it tooth and nail.
While nothing can stop either of you from ultimately obtaining a divorce, the dissenter’s pushback can eat up a lot of time and can lead to considerable expense. It can also set the stage for an all-out war, which generally comes with the highest legal price tag.
You’re Both Committed to Turning down the Heat
If you and your spouse are still on speaking terms and are both committed to pursuing as amicable a divorce as possible, you’re heading in the right direction.
In a divorce, emotions come at you fast and hard, and it can be difficult to separate these feelings from the legal matter at hand.
When both spouses recognize the challenge and are willing to do the work necessary to keep these separate issues separate, it can save a lot in legal expenses and can tone down the animosity – but you should be forewarned that it may not be easy.
You’re in the Same Ballpark Regarding Terms
The bulk of your divorce will focus on resolving the applicable terms. The better you understand the terms of divorce that apply in your case, as well as your associated rights, the better prepared you’ll be to move effectively and efficiently forward.
The Division of Marital Property
In Texas, everything that you, your spouse, or you and your spouse together came to own while you were married is considered marital property. In divorce, these marital assets must be divided equitably or fairly, and factors like the following are taken into consideration:
The length of the marriage
The size of the marital estate as offset by marital debt
The size of each spouse’s separate estate
The contributions each spouse made to the marriage, including in the form of homemaking and caring for the children
Whether or not wrongdoing played a role in the breakdown of the marriage – even in a no-fault divorce
Whether either spouse engaged in the dissipation of marital funds in the buildup to divorce
The tax consequences of each proposed property division
Child Custody Arrangements
Child custody in Texas is divided into legal custody and physical custody, or parenting time, and both are based on the children’s best interests.
Legal Custody
Legal custody determines how you and your ex will make primary decisions on behalf of your children moving forward. The kinds of decisions involved include those related to the following:
Your children’s education
Your children’s healthcare
Your children’s participation in extracurriculars
Your children’s religious upbringing
Unless there is a significant reason for ruling otherwise, parents tend to share legal custody, but one of you may have the authority to break a tie if the need arises.
Physical Custody
Physical custody refers to parenting time, and Texas courts begin with the presumption that it’s in the children’s best interest to maximize the amount of time they spend with each parent. Although one of you may fill the role of the primary custodial parent, the other can typically expect a generous amount of parenting time.
Texas courts turn to best interest factors like the following when making child custody determinations:
The children’s ages and developmental stages
The children’s overall mental and physical health
The children’s physical, educational, and emotional needs, including any special needs
Each parent’s ability and commitment to effectively address the children’s needs
Each parent’s age and overall mental and physical health
Each parent’s desire to co-parent effectively with the other
Each parent’s commitment to supporting the other’s close and ongoing relationship with the children
Child Support
Child support is calculated according to state guidelines that are based primarily on each spouse’s income and the amount of parenting time they receive. Even, however, when parenting time is split right down the middle, the parent who earns more is very likely to make the child support payments according to the following:
They’ll pay 20 percent of their net income for 1 child.
They’ll pay 25 percent of their net income for 2 children.
They’ll pay 30 percent of their net income for 3 children.
They’ll pay 35 percent of their net income for 4 children.
They’ll pay 40 percent of their net income for 5 children.
They’ll pay at least 40 percent of their net income for 6 or more children.
However, when extenuating circumstances exist, the court has the discretion to order child support that exceeds these amounts.
Each of these terms that apply to your case will play a critical role in your future and represents a primary financial or parental right. In other words, each is important and should be given the careful consideration it requires.
If you and your divorcing spouse aren’t seriously far apart on any of these terms, such as if they just need some minor tweaks, your divorce will likely be more straightforward, which typically means being less costly.
It’s important to note that – just because you and your spouse are pretty close in relation to divorce terms – doesn’t mean that the terms you’ve landed on protect your rights as well as they should.
The implications of divorce terms can be far-reaching and difficult to recognize at this stage. Your dedicated Round Rock divorce attorney has the legal insight and experience to ensure that the terms you’re considering will support your financial and parental rights well into the future.
You’re Both Reasonable People
If your divorcing spouse is as reasonable as you are, it reduces the risk that your divorce will lead to any major surprises, which is especially beneficial when it comes to keeping the cost down and the case moving effectively and efficiently forward. Signs of reasonableness include all the following:
You each recognize that you will be divorced and are each committed to moving your case forward.
You each recognize that your divorce will leave you with fewer financial resources. The bottom line is that running two households is more expensive than running one.
You are each willing to make compromises, and you each recognize that divorce amounts to balancing each of your parental and financial rights in accordance with the situation involved.
You are each focused on your children’s best interests and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their well-being and happiness in relation to your divorce.
You each recognize the importance of maintaining civility throughout the divorce process and are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.
When the involved parties are reasonable adults who remain reasonable from start to finish, they can expect to save a good deal of money and time – along with limiting the inevitable emotional upset.
Your Divorcing Spouse Doesn’t Go Rogue
One factor that can send any divorce into a tailspin that racks up legal costs as quickly as it can along the way is when one spouse simply throws caution to the wind and does everything they can to make the divorce as difficult as they possibly can with no real intention of finalizing matters.
While you may be plodding along – taking reasonable step after reasonable step – they’re starting figurative fires in whatever ways they can, and your case is almost certainly heading to court.
This is a situation in which cutting your losses is likely the best approach. Yes, resolving your divorce in court is more costly and time-consuming, but heading directly to court – and skipping the pointless attempts at negotiations along the way – could save you both time and money. And this is not to mention the emotional turmoil you protect yourself and your children from.
Even when your divorce checks all the necessary boxes, it’s important to keep in mind that things can change, and when it comes to divorce, they often do. Your perfectly reasonable spouse who has every intention of keeping your divorce moving smoothly forward can succumb to the emotional upheaval of the process and can morph into someone you don’t recognize.
In the end, it’s important to hope for the best while remaining prepared for the unexpected, and your seasoned Round Rock divorce attorney can help you achieve this balance.
Steps You Can Take to Help Reduce Your Legal Bills
There are several important steps that anyone going through a divorce can take to help reduce their legal costs and speed up the process, which is another common goal.
Gather the Documentation You Need
Divorces are largely guided by documentation that outlines what’s at stake in terms of finances. When you take the time to organize the financial documentation you need to move your divorce forward, you save a considerable amount of time and reduce the amount of effort your attorney will need to put into it, which is the name of the game when it comes to managing legal costs.
The kind of documentation we’re talking about here includes all the following:
Your mortgage
Your car titles
Proof of your income and your spouse’s
Insurance policies and related premiums
Your financial portfolio
Proof of any separate assets you may own, which refer to properties or items of value that you owned prior to marriage and kept separate during your marriage
Titles and deeds to marital assets, which refer to those properties that you, your spouse, or both of you together acquired during your marriage
The bills associated with running your home and providing for your family
Credit card bills and any indicators of additional marital debts
Valuations for any collections, artworks, jewelry, watches, or family heirlooms
Information regarding RVs, boats, jet skis, and other recreational equipment
The more documentation you can gather and compile into a coherent whole, the less organizing your attorney will need to do, which can translate to lower legal fees.
Work Out Whatever You Can between Yourselves
A great way to reduce your legal expenses is by hammering out whatever terms you can between yourselves prior to consulting with your respective divorce attorneys and prior to filing for divorce. By taking care of this legwork upfront, you come to your attorney with much of the work already taken care of.
At this point, you will need them only to confirm that the terms you have established protect your rights, to help you negotiate any terms that remain, and to move your case smoothly through the legal process.
Considerations that are most likely to slip through the cracks when you negotiate between yourselves include the following:
Your children’s health insurance coverage and who will be paying for it – along with the matter of out-of-pocket expenses
The tax considerations of the property division you are considering
Whether or not alimony applies – if one of you is left without the financial resources to address your reasonable needs in relation to the standard of living achieved during your marriage while the other has the means to help, it may
Whether or not one of you will become the primary custodial parent, which means providing your shared children with their primary home
Don’t Drag Your Feet
Every divorce attorney who is worth their salt – and their legal fees – recognizes how hard divorce is on their clients, and they appreciate that this can interfere with their ability to respond as quickly as possible. You should understand, however, that the right divorce attorney for you also wants to help you keep your legal expenses as low as possible.
If your attorney needs something to keep moving your case effectively and efficiently forward, you owe it to yourself and to your legal bill to get it to them as quickly as you can. Divorce can leave you feeling emotionally paralyzed, which can make it more challenging to participate in your own case. Some clients prefer to ignore the issue as a means of self-protection.
While this is all perfectly understandable, you’re far better off getting the emotional support you need from a trusted friend or family member, clergy member, or counselor and forging ahead with the divorce work that needs to be done. It can save you a lot of money, which in turn, can help limit the stress you experience.
Reserve One-on-One Conversations with Your Attorney for those Issues that Matter Most
Things will come up in your divorce that require your practiced divorce attorney’s direct input, but there are other issues that your attorney’s legal team can handle well. The less often you need to speak with your attorney directly, the better positioned you’ll be to keep your legal fees manageable.
If you’re not sure whether the problem or concern you are grappling with is one that you need your attorney to address or is one that a staff member can help you with, all you need to do is ask.
Your attorney’s support staff knows when an issue requires the attorney’s direct advice and when they have it under control. And by asking, you could save yourself a considerable amount of money.
Speak with an Experienced Round Rock Divorce Attorney Today
Brett Pritchard at The Law Office of Brett H. Pritchard – proudly serving Round Rock, Texas, for more than 25 years – is a well-respected divorce attorney who is committed to helping you limit your legal fees without sacrificing your legal protections, and he’ll work closely with you to help make this happen.
For more information about what we can do to help you, please don’t put off contacting or calling us at 254-781-4222 and scheduling your FREE consultation today!