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Did anyone here do a DIY divorce w/o an atty?
Stbx and I are (so far) very amicable about everything concerning the divorce and since we really do not have much $$, he is against us both hiring attys. So my question is, has anyone here filed for their own divorce? I'm just curious as to whether or not it is in our best interest or if we should just spend the couple grand that we don't really have to make sure it's done right...
Tx!
Re: Did anyone here do a DIY divorce w/o an atty?
I did it myself with no lawyers.
But we had no kids and NO joint assets (house, cars, debt, loans, bank accounts, credit cards -- none of that).
If you have any of those things, I would be more hesitant to do it myself.
But it was very simple for me and ended up costing less than $200 and two 30-minute courthouse visits to do the whole thing myself.
Like OaF, we don't have kids and we had no debt besides the mortgage.
We do (still) own a house together and our bank accounts were all joined. He gives me $ every month for the house (we worked out an agreement and had it signed, etc.).
As for the bank accounts, we split everything straight down the middle. We actually still have some of our investment bank accounts joined. We'll split them some day when we get around to it.
Since you have a child I would recommend using an attorney. If you need, I have a great one in NJ.
ETA: Unfortunately divorce is pricey but a lot of law firms can work out a payment plan with you to make it more affordable.
i did it myself. since it was amicable it worked out that we could do it that way. had he not agreed to the property distribution and everything else we might have had to fight it out with lawyers.
i had found an online site that gave you step by step instructions and filled out the documents for you, it cost me $89. Granted later i found out by calling the county court that they have the documents on line for those people doing it pro-se.
from the time i filed i was divorced in 10 days.
We went down the road of DIY, we have no children and were only married 8 months - but we had a home/mortage, joint accounts and a lot of 'stuff'.
It made it MUCH easier for me to hire an attorney to represent me, she did all our paperwork and xH just had to go along for the ride. We will split the cost of the attorney once the divorce is final though. Im in NJ as well. She was $250 for the PSA then $1500 for everything else. Well worth every last penny to make sure something that is on your file for life is done correctly.
What about using a mediator instead of an attorney? Idk if they have that in NJ or not but here in NY you can hire one person who acts as the mediator and helps you to do the paperwork and decide on how to split things, custody agreement, etc. It is cheaper than you both having your own attorney and if you are both agreeing on things should make the process pretty simple.
In NY you can also get the papers for an uncontested divorce online and you just have to file them at the courthouse. But again I have not a clue if you can do that in NJ or not.