Few divorces ever go through smoothly without any animosity but most people who have gone through stressful divorces will tell you that the battle was not worth fighting for the outcome that was eventually agreed. Some people spend years contesting different elements of their divorce and this can result in racking up enormous solicitors’ fees and court fees in the process.
Although it is difficult to put emotions to one side, especially if the reasons for divorce are acrimonious, the best approach to divorce is to try and see it as a business transaction. When people make decisions based on their emotions, it can end up costing them a lot of money in a divorce, which is why sensible divorcees put personal animosity aside.
The longer that a divorce drags on, the worse it is for all parties as a general rule. Some couples who argue about ownership of an item or the percentage of the property they are entitled to will end up spending more on the legal fees than the amount that they were disagreeing over.
If you are considering starting divorce proceedings and there is a high likelihood that there will be a disagreement over the settlement, before you start contesting different areas of the divorce, it is a good idea to sit down together and talk about expectations.
Involving a family solicitor such as Brookman can help you to resolve many of the issues you have conflicting views on and in the process, save you the stress and costs of a long court battle.
However, going to court is not always the worst outcome, as without early intervention a divorce can continue for so long that other factors end up costing more than the cost of going to court.
Court of Appeal case
An example of how an acrimonious divorce ended up costing both partners a significant amount of money was well-publicised case between a very wealthy couple. After spending a considerable amount of time disagreeing about how their assets should be divided, they eventually decided to try and come to an amicable agreement.
They signed a consent order and the court ordered that the matrimonial home would be sold and the proceeds divided equally. However, the sale of the property, valued at over £7 million at the time of the order, did not sell immediately.
The property had gone onto the market just after the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum that rocked the property market at the time. The eventual sale went through for £5.9 million, losing money for both parties. Throughout the period of the property being on the market, the couple were embroiled in appeals regarding entitlement to live in the property, including the husband seeking £600,000 from the wife in damages for alleged trespass.
A judge made a ruling that the wife was a trespasser liable to pay damages, which the wife then appealed, with the rulings being overturned by a more senior judge. This was a very complicated example of how animosity left the couple out of pocket because they had not originally gone to court (before the referendum) and also when they continued to appeal decisions, driven by their resentment.
Divorces can get very messy and complicated and in many cases, solicitors and the courts are the only financial winners. You might be able to use a mediator to resolve issues and not end up losing out on a property value decrease or any other issue that affects the value of your assets.
