Cheap Divorce? Depends How You Go About It

Everyone wants a cheap divorce

I don't blame them. Going through a divorce is hard enough without draining the savings account in the process, and the horror stories - the five-figure retainers, the years of litigation - are real. So when someone calls my office and asks how to get the cheapest divorce possible, I take the question seriously. The answer, though, is that "cheap" depends entirely on how you go about it.

Option one: do it yourself

Filing for divorce without an attorney - pro se, as the courts call it - is technically free, aside from the filing fee. It is also, in my experience, where a lot of "cheap" divorces quietly become expensive ones. I have seen many individuals lose multiple filing fees on pro se divorces that were rejected or dismissed for not conforming with legal standards, before eventually throwing in the towel and hiring me anyway. The filing fee is not refundable when a case gets dismissed, and at $150 per attempt, the do-it-yourself route can end up costing more than doing it right the first time. I wrote an entire article on this subject - head over to Filing for Divorce without an Attorney if you'd like the full rundown.

Option two: the online form mill

Then there are the national divorce websites - the ones promising a complete divorce for $99 or so, operated by a company (term used loosely) headquartered somewhere that will probably change three months later. Here's what that money actually buys: software fills in some forms and emails them to you. Nobody licensed in Missouri reviews them, nobody files them, nobody notices that your county's court has its own local requirements, and nobody answers the phone when the clerk's office rejects the paperwork. You are, in other words, paying $99 for the privilege of still representing yourself.

Option three: flat-fee uncontested divorce

If you and your spouse have a full agreement and are both ready, willing and able to sign the paperwork, an uncontested divorce through my office starts at $850 without children and $1,050 with children - flat, quoted down to the dollar, with the $150 filing fee due when the case is ready to file. For that you get an actual licensed Missouri attorney preparing high-quality pleadings, filing the case, and monitoring it through to Judgment. Not the cheapest sticker price on the internet, but the least expensive way I know of to get a divorce done correctly, once.

When cheap gets expensive

One last point, and it's the important one: the truly expensive divorce is the contested one. Whatever route you take on the paperwork, the single biggest factor in the cost of your divorce is whether you and your spouse can reach an agreement. A couple that agrees on everything can be divorced for about a thousand dollars, give or take. A couple that fights over everything can spend that much in the first week. If keeping the cost down matters to you, the best money-saving move isn't finding a cheaper form - it's sitting down with your spouse and working out the agreement.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to contact me for more information.