Well, a divorce is never part of the picture when getting into a marriage. However, life happens, and sometimes unavoidable. The process carries a lot of emotional pain, physical strain, and financial burden.
However, you can reduce the financial implications and get a cheap divorce in Missouri by controlling how much you spend in the entire duration. Regardless of your spouse’s response to the divorce process, the steps below can significantly reduce your legal fees.
Please read on to learn more about lowering your divorce costs.
Get Smart And Educate Yourself
Learning through a divorce process is not easy but taking the time to understand the process and all legal fees included can save you money. Your attorney will not waste time and your cash educating you on the process.
You can have a cheap divorce in Missouri by researching the state laws and requirements, either online or a local library. Learn what it entails to acquire an attorney, what fees need to be paid, and how the whole process affects any wealth accumulated together.
Reading this information first hand reduces your attorney time, increases your negotiation skills on the table, and places you at a vantage point financially.
Avoid Court At All Costs
Unfortunately, some cases need to get to court where one of you is impossible to deal with. However, a smart and better move would be to seek negotiation, get a third mediator, attain settlement conferences, or try a collaborative divorce. But under all costs, avoid litigation.
Your lawyer might win the trial, but it will break your bank. The whole process of litigation is gut-wrenching as well and destroys lives, including your children’s. Only get there if you have to. Otherwise, open communication might be all you need to save yourself money.
Get Organized
Your lawyer might ask for hourly rates to handle your case. Can you imagine how much you might pay them if they need to organize your financial records for you? But it becomes cheaper when you do it for yourself. Save time by getting all your bank statements, pay stubs, and tax returns in order.
Additionally, you can do everything online by emailing all documents needed beforehand. As you will read on, a collaborative divorce saves money by getting one neutral financial adviser to work on the papers if you are not in a position to.
Collaborative Divorce
Emotions outweigh reason and logic in an ugly and untimely divorce. However, getting an experienced team to manage your family’s communication and financial business in the process can save you money. A collaborative divorce process is futuristic and productive because both parties work together to reach an agreement where everyone feels well treated and compensated.
Always confirm the professional’s prices. Some have hourly charges, while others use a flat rate fee for the entire process.
Seek Therapy
Your lawyer will offer a listening ear when you are venting and hissing about your spouse but remember they are no therapists. Spend less time with your attorney and reduce their legal fees. Then direct the surplus to a real therapist who will help you emotionally and give you what you need to go through the divorce. Who knows, you might find the root cause of the divorce and stop it altogether. Sometimes all you need is a listening ear with advice.
Be Civil And Stop The Fighting
In many divorce cases, spouses allow emotions to run the show, which leaves more scars. However, having a civil discussion could save you money; otherwise, a lawyer would get to make decisions for you. A cheap divorce in Missouri is possible when you both discuss the division of assets, household items, vehicles, and the like.
Besides, you acquired them together, what better way to know who wants what than a stranger doing it for you?
Understanding your financial situations and the divorce implications will help both of you make rational decisions concerning parenting time, calculating child support, monthly couple maintenance, and the overall split of everything. Involve a lawyer if necessary but agreeing firsthand saves you his legal fees as well.
Use Associate Legal Staff
A partner in a law firm is who you would ideally settle for to handle your case. But, you might be surprised how well an associate or a paralegal would handle it at cheaper rates. An associate in the right firm will offer you a cheap divorce in Missouri with the same services.
Additionally, a paralegal handles necessary legal work for you at a cheaper rate. The more a firm has, the faster and less expensive your case becomes.
Avoid Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
Retirement accounts are another critical matter to look into. If you wish to divide the amounts equally, your lawyer will draw a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, which is highly expensive. Instead, if the accounts have more or less the same amounts, agree on each keep their own as it is. In other cases swapping of assets is viable to QDRO.
For example, you could keep the home while your spouse keeps their retirement benefit. Make it easier by communicating beforehand on such matters.
Final Thoughts On Reducing Divorce Costs
Don’t make the mistake of your spouse’s lawyer handling everything, thinking it faster and easier. A cheap divorce in Missouri is possible if you are fully involved and keep emotions at bay. Though not easy, a clear goal and focus on getting your life and your children’s life back on track should make the process bearable if not comfortable.
Lay everything bare from the onset of the divorce process. Have clear reasons for every decision made and look at the long term implications. Finances after a divorce can be straining, but you can save yourself the trouble by following the eight steps outlined above.
Have a willingness to compromise and have the upper hand emotionally, physically, and financially. Don’t use divorce to inflict unnecessary emotional pain or use it to get back at your spouse. Instead, make the separation amicable, especially where children are involved and come out of it stronger and better. Bitterness destroys the holder, so get better instead of bitter! Decrease those divorce costs!
