A friend of mine just got divorced. Guess what
he told me? He said, he got divorced for less than a thousand bucks and this is
inclusive of court fees. Anybody reading this who has previously filed for
adversarial divorce will probably tell you that it’s impossible. They’ll
insist; the acceptance fee alone for a good lawyer is easily worth more than
that. Heck, in some cases a thousand bucks only covers the consultation fee.
The following text is about to tell you
differently, and with basis to boot. To be more specific, this story relates to
Grand Prairie Divorce.
The 2010 Amendment
Alberta Canada modified its divorce law to
allow joint filing. Refer to Alberta 2010 Rules of Court as Amended. This means
that divorce no longer needs to be all out war between husband and wife.
There’s really nothing to gain by asking everything but the kitchen sink. In
most cases, it’s the lawyers who benefit, not you, nor your estranged spouse.
Joint Filing Divorce
Now, you can both appear before the court, tell
the judge, “We tried our best but it didn’t work out. Please grant us a
divorce”. The judge will ask you, if you have agreed to the terms of the
divorce i.e. division of property, custody of children, who gets your beloved
pooch, etc. If you say yes, and sign a document attesting to that fact, then
you can be divorced within 6 months. In some cases, you don’t even have to
appear in court, just sign.
Paralegal Services Only
No adversarial proceedings means, you do not
need a lawyer to enter his/her appearance and argue in person or in paper. So
why hire their services? Some experts will tell you, or previously divorced
couples via adversarial proceedings, will attest to the fact, that a lawyer can
even cause more misunderstandings, more hate, longer cases, etc. They might not
do this intentionally (we hope) but the fact that you have someone who can
advise you that it’s possible to “win in a divorce”, is like adding fuel to the
flame.
Come Again, How Much Will It Cost?
Some providers like affordable-divorce.org
charge as little as $900 for a Grand Prairie Divorce (joint filing). This is inclusive of GST, docket fees and
other related court fees. Tip: look at the website address, it says .org. That
is indicative of its semi non-profit roots. This means more bang for your buck.
Why Not Hire a Lawyer, Just in Case?
You have a point. That was also a question I
posed to my friend. The answer is simple, your “just in case situation” means
you are paying for a lawyer just in case they might be needed, without them
lifting a finger as of yet. Make no mistake, when a joint filing Grand Prairie Divorce is presented to a
law firm, usually it’s the paralegals that handle all the work.
Why not hire a professional paralegal service that
can refer you to a lawyer, if that “just in case scenario arises. It’s
virtually the same assurance. But, in this case, you only pay for the service
you actually get.
