Welcome to Scott, a guest blogger - this information shared by Scott shows how commercialized "divorce" is in 2013. Those contemplating divorce should be cautious when preparing for a divorce.
There are two top spots for the most
stressful events in a person’s life – one of these is divorce. For children it
can be a terrible life changing experience that may never be perhaps understood
until they become adults. There seems to
be no way around the upset but until recent changes in the Legal Aid system at
least all vulnerable people were able to get financial help with the divorce
proceedings and any custody battle.
The BBC reported on a case in June, where
the only way the couple could afford to get out of a very stressful
relationship was with the help of Legal Aid, as costs can be very high and good
legal advice expensive.
With the change to the Legal Aid law in
April 2013 The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of
Offenders Act (LASPO), there
are now vast areas which will not be considered to qualify for any funding e.g.
divorce and attached family cases where custody and living arrangements have to
be decided, some education and employment law, personal injury and certain
negligence cases.
The ensuing problem
will be great as many desperate people have to seek out alternative and
possibly unfair alternatives to escape from or end up in court with no legal
representation. The most vulnerable people will be the ones who suffer warned
the law society to the BBC in April as the Act became Law.
So
what are the alternatives to Legal Aid funding for Divorce?
It is hardly surprising that technology has
swooped in to try and fill the gap. We have the rise of the ‘Quickie Online Divorce’......and though
they seem a good deal being quick and fast there are a lot of pitfalls and disadvantages. A quick delve into Google and you will come
up with an ever increasing list of these new adverts.
Divorce services online
are done to a price – anything from £37.00 to £200.00 and as with most things
you get only what you pay for! One of the main hidden costs is that the basic
legal fees just for the court process will cost £410.00.....and this is
something you personally have to pay no matter whether you use a website or a
solicitor. So it is a case of ‘buyer beware’ as some of these online divorce
websites are unregulated and will not have any professional indemnity
insurance!
Then there are of course ‘Apps’ for your smart
phone, laptop or tablet or any internet device. These web software divorce services are set up to guide you through the
process of all the scenarios involved in divorce. On first glance they seem
quite helpful and straightforward but not having had any reliable feedback
about this, it remains to be seen how good they are.
Getting a divorce is a serious and can be a
complicated process and as such you are well advised to consult legal advice from professional
solicitors before going online shopping for a ‘quickie divorce’. As I
stated earlier you only get what you pay for and for something as life changing
as divorce cheapest is not always best.
Initially look around for some free
advice – some solicitor practices now run ‘divorce surgeries’ for people who
cannot afford solicitors, and online you can read specialist blogs of family
solicitors.
Conclusively – yes – when you start
considering divorce do go online.....but not necessarily shopping for that
cheapest quick solution which at first seems the best way out of your problems.
It could be the start of even bigger ones!!
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