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Factors to consider while assessing the cost of a Florida Divorce

The process of filing a divorce can entail many complexities, roadblocks, and unforeseen charges. If one of the spouses chooses to contest the requested divorce terms through a filed response then the fees might go up. Since divorce cases are often expensive couples who choose to come to an agreement on divorce terms and make a decision to find solutions over issues such as spousal support, visitation, child custody rights, and division of property, can substantially reduce the cost involved. The agreement can be written down and submitted alongside the divorce petition. Such an agreement should entail the amicable settlement terms. This move alleviates additional divorce filing fees and other expenses that would have been incurred with the hiring of lawyers.

Where an agreement cannot be reached between the couple then pretrial meetings supervised by the court may be used by the couple as an avenue of resolving the differences. Prior to a divorce proceeding, disagreeing couples can hire attorney services to mediate between them and possibly come up with a written agreement. If the arbitration process does not produce an agreement then the attorney involved isn’t allowed to represent either of the couples on court proceedings.

If in the assessment of either of spouses leads them to believe that they are incapable of representing themselves in court proceedings then they can seek to retain the services of their private divorce attorney. On average the divorce attorney charge on hourly basis. This attorney can be quite expensive. The cost of divorce in Florida could even be $200 for every hour of representation from the divorce lawyer.

In order to get a rough idea of the total cost, it would be advisable to get an estimate of the time details for your divorce case. Get an estimate of the number of hours involved and the total approx. cost for the entire divorce process. Often a disagreeing couple makes it necessary for the divorce judge to award one of the parents a child support payment to be incurred by the spouse who does not get custody of the children. Some of the factors that the judge is likely to consider include:

  • Special needs by the family

  • Uncommon medical expenses

  • Income from any of the children

  • Terms of the agreement for custody

  • Implications to the federal tax

Where the spouse seeks spousal support payment it is within the judge’s discretion to make a decision on the relevance of the request based on a few considerations such as: duration the marriage has lasted, living standards enjoyed in the marriage, earning from both spouses, and the likely length of time it will take either of the spouses to get an education or acquire new skills so as to become independent.

Spousal support can be indefinite or temporary. Basically, the cost of a divorce in Florida can vary depending on a number of factors. Some of these factors relate to the couple while others are purely dependent on court fees and attorney hourly charges.

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