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With wages having been depressed for more than a decade now, people are regularly looking to save money wherever possible – divorces included.

Long deemed to be the exclusive preserve of the legal professional, Divorce Petitions and other documents needed to dissolve a marriage are regularly being completed and submitted to the courts by everyone from builders to supermarket employees. But what costs are they likely to accrue and what is the likelihood of their application succeeding?

In terms of costs, the filing fee for divorce is £550 though it is possible to have this reduced or possibly even waived completely. Provided an application is completely free of errors and the divorce is straightforward, this should be the only fee anyone is required to pay. As I’m sure you can imagine, however, mistakes are commonplace and can have significant financial ramifications.

Firstly, there are fees in excess of £100 to submit amended documents and, believe us, errors are far more common than you may think, particularly when it comes to providing information concerning marriage certificates. It’s also not unheard of for uncontested divorces to become contested as a result of the Respondent deciding that they’re no longer willing to admit to adultery. In the worst case, this can prevent the divorce from proceeding with the court fee being wasted as a result.

Additionally, extra costs may be accrued if the Respondent does not return documentation to the court but their spouse has filed on one of the grounds where consent is not technically required (unreasonable behaviour or five-year separation). Under these circumstances, the applicant can pay for a bailiff to attend the Respondent’s home and deliver the relevant documentation for a cost of £40 and the divorce will be able to proceed as normal.

All of these potential costs pale in comparison to those you could face if you fail to obtain a formal and legally binding order finalising the division of your and your spouse’s joint assets, however. By filing a Consent Order before or within six months of a divorce being finalised, divorcees can make any agreement regarding the division of assets legally binding and prevent either party from making a claim against the other in the future. If this order is not obtained, a claim can be brought at any time and either spouse could find themselves needing to pay out a vast sum of money to the other at any time.

Whilst many assume that a divorce will completely dissolve the monetary ties that exist between spouses, this is simply not the case and the important of obtaining a Consent Order cannot be understated as a result.

To find out more about divorce, including Consent Orders, get in touch with Quickie Divorce’s advisers today.