It is well-established that more than 90% of all divorces end with an agreement between the parties. Shouldn’t you explore that first if you can, instead of starting a long, expensive, and probably unnecessary legal battle?
We believe the answer is yes. Regrettably, most family law attorneys don’t even ask this question.
There are only two ways to get through a divorce: 1) work it out with your spouse for something you both can live with, or 2) pay a trial attorney $250-$450+ per hour to go to court to ask a judge or other strangers to make these life decisions for you.
With our extensive background and experience, we can help you negotiate these life decisions with your spouse. That’s what we offer through a cooperative divorce. A cooperative divorce is when both parties are willing to negotiate with each other to keep the divorce uncontested, but there is no structured or formal process to complete like there is with a collaborative divorce.
And that’s all we do. We do not accept contested cases.
Absent any instructions to the contrary, most divorce attorneys start a legal battle instead of exploring an early agreement. The trial of a divorce takes much longer and costs much more in fees than the negotiation of an agreement. Make sure a fight is your best option before starting one.
The typical default strategy for divorce attorneys is to file the case with the court, serve the spouse with the papers, and charge by the hour to do all that is necessary to take the case to court. The spouse then hires their own attorney by the hour to fight back and so goes one storm after another.
Most clients don’t know there are alternative strategies, and assume their attorney is taking the best course of action for their case.
Often, an agreement is not even discussed until after the attorneys have spent months filing motions and discovery documents, or the judge has ordered a mediation. And all the while the meter is running.
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Your fee structure should work for you, not against you. Don’t pay your attorney by the hour to keep fighting if you are interested in an early agreement. If you can pay one flat fee, then both of you will better off the sooner the agreement is reached.
Most divorce attorneys charge by the hour because no one can predict how long a divorce fight might last. Hourly fees will pay your attorney to continue to fight for you as long as necessary, and if you must fight, that’s what you want.
However, an attorney billing by the hour has no financial incentive to work out an agreement that will end their stream of fees. While some of the finest people we know are attorneys, if you think that no attorney has ever stretched out a divorce case just to keep the hourly fees rolling in, then your view of human nature is more optimistic than ours.
By contrast, most cooperative divorces either reach an agreement within a couple of months, or they become contested. Because of that, one appropriate set fee can be calculated based on the issues in the case and the time expected to work out an agreement.
If your attorney is willing to accept one fixed fee to help you negotiate an agreement, then both of you will be better off the sooner that happens. You will also be protected from extra fees if it takes longer than expected, and you won’t be rewarding your attorney with more fees the longer they fail to get you what you want.
Your fee structure can work for you, instead of against you.
Our experience has been that if an agreement can be explored BEFORE any case is filed in court, then most of our clients can reach an early agreement and save themselves from thousands in hourly fees and months of stress.
Schedule a free consultation with our attorney. Let’s see if we can help you with a cooperative divorce instead of a fight. If we can, then we can guide you through each step of the process.
Our fee structure explained:
One fee instead of hourly fees
We charge one fee, sometimes called a flat fee or fixed fee, to help you negotiate an early agreement and prepare all the paperwork necessary for your Final Decree of Divorce. It is usually between $1200-$5000, depending on the type of divorce (uncontested, cooperative, collaborative, etc.) and the issues in the case.
Uncontested divorce
Some of our clients have an uncontested divorce, which means they already have an agreement on all of the issues with their spouse before they come to us. If you do, and you just want us to review the proposed agreement for potential issues, prepare the paperwork, get everything signed and notarized, file everything, and submit the case to the judge for the Final Decree, the fee is usually $1200-$1600, depending on the issues. The parties often sign the agreement in a week or two.
An uncontested divorce is different from a cooperative divorce, because the parties have already worked out all the terms of their agreement when they retain us to complete the paperwork for the uncontested divorce.
Cooperative divorce
If you don't have all of the issues worked out yet, but both you and your spouse are interested in exploring an agreement instead of fighting, you may be interested in a cooperative divorce. The goal of the cooperative divorce is to keep the divorce uncontested.
We will advise you as you negotiate each issue with your spouse to reach an agreement. Our fee for a cooperative divorce is usually $2500-$4000 if your spouse does not have an attorney. Most parties can usually sign an agreement within a month or so.
About half of our cases are cooperative divorces in which the spouse does not have an attorney during the negotiations. We will advise you on all the issues, and you will conduct the negotiations directly with your spouse. Our attorney cannot represent both parties, and he will not communicate with your spouse unless there are unusual circumstances and your spouse specifically requests to communicate with us. Also, we always recommend that your spouse should at least engage an attorney to review any proposed agreement before they sign anything.
If your spouse does have an attorney for the cooperative divorce negotiations, the process will almost certainly be more formal and will take much longer. As a result, our set fee is usually $4000-$5000, depending on the issues.
Collaborative divorce and formal mediation
Collaborative divorce and formal mediation are both situations in which the parties want to work out an agreement for their divorce but have decided it will be necessary to go through a formal process with rules and guidelines to accomplish their objective. Usually both parties are represented by counsel.
We sometimes accept clients, on a case-by-case basis, who are interested in a collaborative divorce or a formal mediation, and we will quote a flat fee for you during our free consultation. Again, we do not accept contested cases of any kind.
Refunds and prolonged cases
If the case becomes contested or you wish to take a different direction at any time for any reason, we will refund any part of our fee which has not yet been earned at the firm's hourly rate. If the total fee has been earned at the hourly rate but the case takes longer to resolve, you will not be billed for any extra time. In other words, our flat fee is the most you will be billed for our attorney fees.
Compare
Compare what we offer to the average total fees of $10,500-$12,700 for lawyers billing by the hour in the typical year-long divorce case in Georgia. And those are just averages. Many are much worse. Our attorney has a friend, another attorney, whose high-asset divorce took three years to resolve by agreement and cost him $500k+ in fees using a downtown Atlanta law firm.
We are not a budget law firm. It’s our innovative strategy and flat fee which can keep you out of the storm.
We offer a free consultation.
Find out if your situation might foster an early agreement. Not every case will. We can set up a Zoom meeting with our attorney so you can discuss your case from a comfortable and private location.
You have nothing to lose, and you could save yourself significant stress, time and money.
