Understanding the Financial Impact of Contested Divorces
Why are contested divorces more costly? I’m told this is Tulsa divorce attorney James Wirth, that’s the question we have. The question we have goes like this. I understand that a contested divorce can be more costly. Could you explain why this is the case and provide an estimate of the potential additional cost involved if my husband does not consent to the divorce?
Okay, well, there’s a lot of different reasons. Okay, first off, with my office, and it’s common maybe with other offices, we generally work on an hourly wage. So the more work and time we put into the case, that’s the more expensive it is. We charge a retainer up front that goes into trust and it’s held in trust for your benefit.
The Billing Process in Contested Divorces
As we do work, it is billed hourly, and then the trust money is moved over to the operating account to pay that bill as it goes. So we do evergreen retainers. So you pay a certain amount down and then you maintain that balance. And then each week when we do invoicing, you get an itemized statement that shows the work that we’ve done. And then that bill is paid out of the trust and then you replenish the trust when the case is done.
Everything that’s in trust is refunded to you that’s not utilized on the case. So it’s kind of like you’re paying a deposit to rent an apartment. As long as you stay current on your rent, you get that deposit back at the end. But we handle agreed divorces a little bit differently. Agreed divorces, we kind of know what’s gonna happen. There’s a typical pattern that we follow.
Contrasting Agreed and Contested Divorces
As long as all the terms are agreed to, the parties agree to get divorced, they agree to custody, visitation, child support, asset, debt division, attorney’s fees, spouse support, and everything. If you have full agreement on everything, then we know how much work it’s gonna be upfront. So we can do it as a flat fee so there’s no surprises for you.
So the question here is, why is a contested divorce treated differently? It’s because we don’t know upfront how much it’s gonna cost. We don’t know how much work it’s gonna take. And when it comes to litigation, either side does have some control in increasing the cost of litigation. If either side can start doing additional discovery, we’re gonna send out more subpoenas and get documents in. We’re gonna do more interrogatories.
Factors Affecting the Cost of Contested Divorces
We’re gonna do more requests for production. We’re gonna start doing depositions of people. That’s gonna require time on both sides to increase the cost of litigation. Typically speaking, the more we’re fighting over and the value of that, then that’s gonna be the more work that’s gonna be put into the case because it’s gonna be cost-effective to do so.
If we’re talking about a divorce and we’re fighting over money, that’s easy to see what the value is. When we’re fighting over custody and kids, that has unlimited value. Then it comes down to how much are the parties willing to invest. If they wanna get expert witnesses involved and they wanna do psychological evaluations, they wanna do custody evaluations, they wanna get GALs, guardian ad litems, involved, they wanna get other expert witnesses, they wanna have private investigators searching for additional evidence, they wanna depose everybody, the cost can increase greatly.
Uncertainties and Resolutions in Contested Divorces
So we don’t know upfront how it’s gonna go. We don’t know up front where the case is gonna end. Most cases get resolved by agreement before a final trial. But some get resolved the night before the trial. Some get resolved at the first settlement conference. Some get resolved at mediation. So we don’t know how that’s gonna go. We don’t know the amount of work it’s gonna require. We don’t know how much the other side’s gonna invest into putting work that we need to counter as well.
So that’s why a contested divorce is more expensive and it’s why it’s not a flat fee upfront because we don’t know how it’s gonna go and how much cost there’s gonna be. In an agreed divorce where both parties are in agreement, we can more anticipate exactly how it’s gonna go in a quote of a flat fee. So hopefully that answers your question. If it doesn’t though, you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about your specific circumstances.
Schedule a Low-Cost Initial Strategy Session
Anyway, that gives you actionable legal advice and can help you come up with a strategy for your situation. To get that scheduled with an experienced family law attorney, feel free to reach out to our office. We’re here to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your divorce case. Take the first step towards resolving your legal matters by contacting us at 918-879-1681. We offer a low-cost initial strategy session to help you navigate through your contested divorce efficiently and effectively.
