insideKENT Magazine Issue 52 - July 2016 | Page 157

LAW ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE EASING THE COST OF DIVORCE Alex Davies Divorce can be an expensive business if litigation is involved, which is why it is so much better if couples can agree their financial settlement between themselves. But all too often it ends in court and it is almost impossible to predict in advance how much this will cost. Here Alex Davies, head of family law at Cripps, explains why he is introducing a fixed fee option for this. to plan their future if they agree the cost of each step in advance. As well as taking away the uncertainty of the cost it also enables the relationship with the lawyer to be more transparent as clients do not have to worry about how fast the clock is running. If cash flow is a problem and clients need help with legal fees until they are able to sell assets at the end of the case, there are also a number of specialist litigation loan providers in the market willing to offer loans that do not require repayment until the case has been finished and the assets divided. Sometimes they are able to take property or houses as security and, in other cases, valuable belongings such as antiques or jewellery. Decisions made in the course of divorce will affect both parties for the rest of their lives, but the law often seems to be a complex set of rules and procedures that often make the process of reaching a financial settlement following divorce a lengthy and costly process. If the couple couple can’t can’tagree agreebetween betweenthemselves, themselves,ororif ifone oneororother otherisisless than than honest aboutabout their their assets or income or has unrealistic view of what less honest assets or income oran has an unrealistic view of constitutes a fair outcome, the matter may well go to court. At this what constitutes a fair outcome, the matter mayhave well to have go to court. stage is difficult lawyers to be exact about theabout cost the because it depends At thisitstage it is for difficult for lawyers to be exact cost because the length complexity of the case.of the case. itondepends onand the length and complexity Clients tell us that this uncertainty is one of the biggest causes of stress in the process – and this isn’t helped by the press being full of horror horror stories of divorcing couples who have spent huge amounts of money in court proceedings arguing about how their assets should be divided. Sometimes, however, a lengthy process process is is necessary necessary to to avoid avoid an an unfair unfair outcome. In situations such as that, how can people control the cost of legal fees and properly plan for how to afford them? In a landmark ruling recently recently one judge criticised the amount of legal fees a couple had incurred, saying he thought in this day and age divorcing couples should be able to expect their lawyers to offer a fixed fee to deal with financial court proceedings following divorce. In fact, fixed fees to deal with the process of ending a marriage have been around for a while but until now lawyers have been reluctant reluctant to to extend extend fixed fee offers to court procedures which may cost tens of thousands of pounds in complex cases. They have not wanted to share the risk that legal fees might be higher than anticipated. But all that is now changing. Court proceedings to decide financial agreements or disputes concerning children are usually held in three stages and at Cripps we are now able to offer a fixed price for each step. Not all cases will need to go to all three steps as the matter may well be settled during the first stage, but the benefit of the fixed fee structure is that the client is more easily able The team of family lawyers at Cripps is committed to helping clients to plan for the unexpected by being transparent about the cost and affordability of divorce. For more information contact Alex Davies on 01892 506326 or [email protected] About Cripps www.cripps.co.uk @crippslaw Cripps is a key regional law firm serving clients nationally and internationally from offices in Kent and London. Recognised countrywide for both its commercial and private client work, Cripps is Legal Team of the Year (Midsize) in the 2014/15 STEP Private Client Awards and is ranked in the Top 25 Private Client Law Firms. The firm focuses on wealthier families, entrepreneurial businesses and the real estate sector. Find out more at cripps.co.uk This article gives examples and is intended for general guidance only. 157