Questions about Divorce

The most common questions a divorce attorney hears are, "How long is this going to take?" and "How much is this going to cost me?" If a client meets with an attorney after having discussed the matter with his or her spouse, and can present a complete agreement to the attorney, these questions can be answered rather easily.

The length of time the attorney will need to prepare the documents and obtain a court date for an uncontested divorce depends upon the attorney's schedule. Several documents need to be prepared and the attorney needs to be available for the court date.

The speed at which the attorney is able to obtain signatures and other documents, such as legal descriptions to homes and titles to cars, will also be relevant. Naturally, if one of the spouses is out of state, time must be allowed for the documents to be mailed to that spouse, signed, and returned by mail. Signatures and other documents can usually be obtained very quickly if both spouses are local, neither spouse is a procrastinator, and the documents needed can be readily pulled out of the client's filing cabinet and produced to the attorney.

Another factor in the time element may be grounds. Mental cruelty and adultery, for example, have no waiting period. There is a waiting period for grounds of irreconcilable differences.

The scenario referred to above describes an "uncontested" divorce. If you anticipate needing an order of protection because of domestic violence, a temporary support order because your spouse has or will cut off funds to you and/or your children, or a custody dispute, you do not fall under the category of "uncontested". Many attorneys would also agree that an uncontested case does not include discovery. In other words, you are familiar with your spouse's income, expenses, and assets and do not need your attorney to find out any of these things for you.

There are two ways a divorce can be ended. One is by trial and the other is by agreement. If you and your spouse cannot reach an agreement, a trial date will be set. The courts are usually backed up for trial dates, and you may have to wait a considerable time for a trial. If you have a marital settlement agreement, getting a "prove-up" date (which is what the final court date is called when you have an agreement) does not usually take very long. It is not uncommon to get a prove-up date in a few weeks, while a trial date takes many months. The reason is because a prove-up usually only takes about ten minutes, while a trial can take days or weeks to complete.

You may know neighbors or friends who have been going through the divorce process for two years or even more. The reason is usually because they have not reached an agreement. When a case first begins, the couple and the attorneys are usually somewhat optimistic that the case may be settled. As time goes on and it becomes apparent that what each person is expecting from the divorce is very different and the couple is very far apart in terms of settlement, a pre-trial date is often set with the court. At that time the judge is given a preliminary summary of the case by the attorneys and the judge makes a recommendation.

Many people do understand that if the judge recommends something at a pre-trial, the judge will probably rule the same way after a complete trial, and pre-trials often help to settle the case. Many people realize it would be a good idea to end the battle and not incur any more expenses after a judge has made a recommendation. However, not everybody agrees it would be futile to go to trial after a pre-trial. Some people believe that if they personally were able to tell their side of the story in front of the judge, instead of their attorney speaking for them, the judge would rule differently. For people like this, trial is probably the best and only choice for ending the marriage.

The questions still remain. How long will this take? It depends on the couple. If the case settles quickly, it could take as few as several weeks to get a divorce, but more likely a few months. If the case goes to trial it could take many months, and perhaps even a year or more to try to settle, conduct discovery, wait for a pre-trial date, wait for a trial conference date, and then finally go to trial.

The other question also remains. How much will this cost? Again, it depends on the couple. Attorney fees for an uncontested case could run as low as $1,500.00. Court and court reporter costs are currently $417.00 in McHenry County and other counties would be fairly comparable. How much will this cost if the case goes to trial? Many thousands of dollars. The final bill for attorney fees will depend upon how many hours your attorney needs to spend on your case. There may also be expenses such as witness fees, expert fees, and court reporter fees for depositions. The number of hours needed for a case depends heavily upon the degree of conflict between the parties. If it is necessary for your attorney to go into court many times, schedule depositions, draft letters and motions, and have many office visits and/or telephone conferences with you, the fees will naturally be much higher.

Are there any other options? Yes. An adversarial, contested case is the most traumatic and expensive course of action.
I strongly recommend Divorce Mediation and Collaborative Law.

Back to the main page