Re:Divorce newbie

I had my first consultation with a solicitor a couple of days ago and I had a few questions since I can rightly assume that my solicitor will want as much business from me as possible.
There are (I think) three aspects to our seperation.
1. The divorce
2. The kids
3. The assets

Although my solicitor has quoted various costs to cover all of these things, I had some questions.

Firstly, it appears to me that if both my wife and I agree on the reasons for divorce, we can just fill in the forms and deal with them ourselves.
My solicitor wants £400 plus VAT (plus the actual divorce application fee) to send them for us so it'd be quite a saving if I'm correct.

Second, we don't need to do anything on paper for the kids. We just agree between us when we'll both have the kids and how much maintenance will be paid and then as long as we both stick to it, nothing needs to be done legally. However, I also see that there's a form to fill out when you apply for divorce when kids are involved.

Last, we presumably need a legally binding document to declare that we no longer have any financial interest in each other after the divorce. I imagine that this part actually does need a solicitor to handle. However, my solicitor said that we would both need representation and I can't see why we can't go to a solicitor together, have the forms drawn up and sign them. This would mean we can share the cost rather than having to each pay our own solicitors.

At the moment, we seem to be able to agree on everything and as long as that stays the same way, I can't see the need to be paying two solicitors. Any comments are much appreiciated so that we can do this the right way but as cheaply as possible.
Cheers!

Hi Targaryen,

It sounds a if you have every thing under control - great!

1 Divorce,
Yes you could do this yourself, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for so I'd recommend you do get some advice. It could be from here, books or the CAB.

2 The kids
Best keep the sols out of it totally. Agree it between yourselves - "end of" as they say.

3 The assets
You can't have one solicitor between the two of you as he/she won't be representing your or your stbx's best interests. Again, if your finances are uncomplicated and agreed you could get the paperwork done by Wiki or whoever. Split all costs down the middle?

Good luck with the amicable split; both of you!

YA

I entirely agree with everything YA says. I just wanted to add a few well chosen words about the consent order.

In my wiki ' career ' if that's the right word, I've come across quite a few consent orders which had defects which only came to light later, so you really do need solicitors.

The general idea is that one solicitor prepares the draft order and sends it to the other to approve. The skill consists in drafting the order and approving it but if, as I suspect, your affairs are not particularly complicated then the cost should not be great. You could even agree between yourself to split the total cost equally. Wiki offer a service at a price which is very competitive and if your affairs are straightforward you might care to investigate this.

However, I think there is one question you must be prepared to be asked. It is vital that both parties should know the financial position of the other. A solicitor will want to make sure that this is the case.

Just so that you know ----

LMM