Is the collaborative divorce process expensive?
Collaborative lawyers generally charge by the hour, as do conventional family lawyers, and rates vary according to experience. Since every case is different, there is no way to predict cost. It will depend on how simple or complex your issues are, how much time is spent in reaching agreement on each issue, whether you and your spouse have already reached many of the agreements, the emotional stages of each of the parties, etc. A rule of thumb is that a collaborative case will cost you 50 % to 60% of a fully litigated case. It’s fair to say that collaboration is the most efficient and economical conflict resolution process for the broadest range of clients, and that litigation is, quite simply, the most expensive way of resolving a dispute.
