100 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
of money; (2) you avoid lots of stress; (3) you get your divorce
completed within two to three months; and (4) you salvage some
sort of decent relationship with your former spouse. This last
issue is especially important when ongoing relations with the
kids are concerned. In general, reaching an uncontested divorce
settlement vastly minimizes the emotional and financial costs of
the entire situation. This is certainly the goal to shoot for.
hot tips on how to Process Your Divorce
Economically and Efficiently
Divorce. A resumption of diplomatic relations and rectification of boundaries.
—Ambrose Bierce
The approach we utilize in my firm is to try to keep cases on the
uncontested track whenever we possibly can since that’s what
saves our clients their money. But this means that everything has
to be uncontested. It means that we’ve got to be able to get both
parties to voluntarily sign an agreement dissolving the marriage.
This document must include a complete settlement of all the
property and other issues in the divorce.
The settlement agreement. Once an uncontested property settle-
ment agreement (i.e., divorce decree) is signed by both husband
and wife, it is then submitted to the court as an essentially done
deal. The parties are not asking the judge to decide anything/
everything regarding their lives or their divorce. Instead, they are
simply asking the judge to approve the agreement as is. This is a
much quicker, less adversarial, and more manageable procedure
than a contested divorce.
Keeping the costs down. Uncontested divorces generally cost
somewhere in the range of $1,000 to $1,500 in legal fees and can be
concluded within a few months. I must stress the fact, however,
that every single item of the divorce settlement must be mutually
agreed upon.
If there is any disagreement and the other party is unwilling
to sign, for whatever reason (whether good or bad, sensible or
ridiculous, it doesn’t matter), then you do not have an uncon-
tested divorce. The disagreement can be over something as major