When is a DIY Divorce the Best Option?

Once you have decided to file for divorce, you can go about it in two ways – managed and Do-It-Yourself (DIY). In managed divorces, the partners hire a solicitor to offer expert advice and guidance throughout the proceedings and also represent the client in a court. Since most lawyers charge by the hour, this option can come out to be quite expensive, particularly if the partners are using the case to take revenge on each other and deliberately trying to prolong each other’s agony. However, there is no option for managed divorces if the spouses are unable to reconcile their differences about crucial matters such as child custody, maintenance rights and division of assets and liabilities.

Should you go for a DIY divorce, then? That is an interesting question that can decide whether your marital separation is quick and cheap or prolonged and expensive, with a lot of legal twists and arguments. DIY divorce has many benefits. There are no lawyers involved. You have to take care of the paperwork on your own. This obviously comes out to be quite inexpensive compared to managed divorces. DIY divorces are very quick too since there is no litigation. You can actually separate from your partner in as less as three months if the judge is satisfied with all the arrangements.

For getting a DIY divorce, certain conditions have to be met. Going for it is a good idea if both of you have a desire to separate willingly and quickly with a minimum of bad blood. You should be eager for the whole thing to be done and over with and start a new chapter in your life. For DIY divorce, first and foremost, you must agree on three critical issues of (i) child custody, (ii) division of assets and liabilities and (iii) maintenance to be paid to wife.

It is not easy to come to an agreement on these because of the emotions running high. With whom will the children stay after marriage? -- is a question that is bitterly contested by the parents because some of them are very attached to the kids and want them to grow under their close supervision. Once the partners have managed to get the issue of child custody out of the way, they have to decide how much maintenance has to be paid to the wife after divorce until she becomes financially independent or remarries.

Division of assets and liabilities is a tough task because not only are people possessive about things they have bought with their own money, but this has an immediate bearing on their financial status. Who will pay credit card bills and mortgage instalments and who gets to keep the car and house, are some of the issues that have to be settled. Also, you have to be satisfied that your husband or wife has disclosed to you all of his or her assets and there is nothing that is being hidden. If you are unsure, you can always take the help of professional detectives. Finally, if you are convinced that the settlement you have arrived at is fair and reasonable, you should be ready to go for a DIY divorce.

The first step in this is to find a suitable DIY divorce consultant. All such companies today operate through the Internet and have built attractive websites. These offer legal forms online that you have to download and print at your home computer. Once you have filled up the paperwork and put your signatures, the forms are posted back to the DIY service provider. Its solicitors go through the information, ensure that everything is in order and then forward the papers to the appropriate court. Once the decrees have been granted finalising your divorce, the legal certificate is posted to you. With this, you are formally separated and free to remarry if you so wish.

All DIY companies compete on price and efficiency of service. Before zeroing in on one, you should check the various offers and charges. As a rule, the longer a company has been in existence, the better its service and reliability are going to be. Also, go through the customer testimonials and check the kind of legal staff employed at the DIY service provider to process your paperwork.

There are some outfits backed by real solicitors. This distinguishes them from other companies using paralegals in terms of the quality of legal oversight of the entire divorce process. These are the ones you should go for to have a quick and easy DIY divorce.

Divorce Articles: http://www.internetionalmedia.com/Category/Divorce/

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you would like more information on how to get a quickie Divorce see www.quickie-divorce.com

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