The Truth About the Cost of Divorce in Florida

For many people a divorce in Florida is their first experience with lawyers and the legal system. The first thing people want to know when they are looking into getting divorced is what it will cost them. Many attorneys will avoid estimating what it will cost because it is very difficult to predict. Tiger Woods and Larry King are each hiring a team of attorneys to represent them and may pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to get divorced. If you don’t have Tiger or Larry money how much is a divorce in Florida going to cost you?

The short answer is that the simpler your divorce the less it will cost you. Conversely, the more complicated your divorce, the more it can cost you. Attorneys in Florida typically charge between $150 to $400 per hour or more. This hourly rate varies around the state and is also based on the attorney’s level of experience. It was reported that Tiger hired one specialist just to handle the international aspects of child custody and visitation of his children that may spend much of their time in Europe with their mother. That attorney alone will likely cost him well over $400 per hour.

The easiest way to get a divorce in Florida is called a “Simplified Dissolution of Marriage”. You must qualify for this type of divorce but it can be the cheapest. The very minimum cost is filing and summons fees. The filing fee will cost you around $400 and it will cost you around $40 to have a summons served on your spouse. The summons is official notification to your spouse that you have filed for divorce in Florida. You can get the divorce forms online for free or pay around $20 for them at your local courthouse. The forms should come with instructions. You will need them. Assuming that your case is very simple and uncontested you could get a divorce in Florida for less than $500.

If you have children, property, possible alimony claims or any other matter that you are not sure about you may need an attorney to help protect your divorce rights. If you can come to agreement with your spouse on all matters (uncontested divorce) you may be able to sit down with an attorney for an hour or two and have him/her go over the legal aspects of the case and help you understand them. This can save you a lot of money by avoiding problems that may need to be corrected after the divorce. If you are highly prepared prior to meeting with the attorney you can save yourself a lot of money here. Have all of the paperwork filled out and any questions you have prepared. The attorney will need to know every aspect of your marriage to advise you on a divorce in Florida. Some attorneys will offer a free initial consultation, but you may have to ask for it. Any additional time with an attorney is going to cost you.

If you decide at the end of the free consultation you will still need legal assistance you should discuss with the attorney how much they will charge to complete the process. You may have several options depending on the complexity of your divorce in Florida:

* Hire the attorney on an hourly basis to stay in control of your costs.

* The attorney may agree to a flat fee to advise you if he thinks it is a simple case.
* Pay the attorney a retainer fee of $1,500 to $5,000 depending of the complexity of the case. This is what the attorney will prefer.



The key to keeping your costs low in a divorce in Florida is to cooperate and compromise. This is possible even in cases that include children and property but will test your limits.