Coming to the conclusion that your marriage or relationship is at an end is hard enough let alone working out how you are going to fund the legal costs involved with sorting it out.
Understandably most clients don’t budget for this sort of expense in a marriage and, whilst the average divorce is a lot cheaper than the average wedding, most clients don’t enthuse over spending money on this life changing event. Some clients convince themselves that they “can’t afford” to instruct a solicitor but the reality is that they generally can, and should. It may mean that they have to start using up savings they have had earmarked for a “rainy day”, or use their credit card or loan from a bank or friend or family member or just forego a planned holiday or new car just until “things are sorted”. Not really what most clients want to hear, I accept, but without legal advice the divorce and finances may not ever get sorted out, may take longer to sort out and may leave the party without legal advice financially worse off compared to their ex-partner or spouse.
So in summary here are some options for funding a divorce:
• Savings and/or budgeting for the costs
• A private loan (e.g. from family or friends)
• A bank loan
• Credit cards
• A specialist legal loan provider such as Novitas
• An agreed monthly payment to your solicitors – this will depend on the amount you can afford and the amount of your legal fees.
• An application to Court for an Order that the other party helps contribute to your legal costs by paying a lump sum – although this is only possible in certain situations.