Reducing the costs associated with a marriage breakup

There are inevitable costs associated with a marriage breakup and the division of property and the arrangement of parenting rights and most of these are associated with legal fees and expert's fees or the case itself.

There are a number of ways to substantially reduce these costs in any marriage or relationship breakdown. Some of these are:

• You will substantially reduce your legal fees if you can agree with your former partner on as many issues as possible. Preparing the binding documents to reflect this agreement is not the biggest aspect of expense it is getting to the agreement if you have to get your lawyer to negotiate it for you.
   
• Be realistic about the value of the asset that is being disputed. The real value may be substantially less than you think and may be outweighed by the legal costs associated with its dispute.
   
• Don't be tempted to use the children as tools to punish or correct behaviour of your former spouse. Parenting disputes if inflamed can be very expensive and they are very harmful to the children and your ongoing relationship with the former partner. Don't try to use the proceedings to punish a former partner. The Law can be a very blunt instrument and it is not designed to punish past misdeeds.
   
• Always keep in mind the likely expense of continuing your case and be prepared to compromise to keep out of Court.
   
• Don't be overly influenced by what has happened in other person's settlements. This is your divorce. What others have received or something that happened in a friend's case will have little or no bearing on your case unless you allow it to. Family and friends can offer well-meaning but sometimes harmful advice.

Keeping these points in mind will help to reduce the overall cost to you both financially and in personal terms.