Guest Blogger Discusses Legal Aid

www.caseboss.com

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!!