Divorce: Do It Yourself And Save Thousands - By: Lucille Uttermohlen

You're broke, and both of you want your marriage to end. You can hire a divorce lawyer, or represent yourself in court. A lot of folks are doing their own paperwork to end their marriages. Still, there are some things you should consider before trying to represent yourselves.

Do you have anything to fight about? In many divorces, the parties end up hiring divorce lawyers and spending a lot of money when they don't have very much to lose. If you haven't been married for long, chances are good that you haven't done anything together that you need to bring to a judge's attention. All you need to do is end your legal connection to each other. With the right forms, you can do that much on your own. Among the things you should base your decision on whether to hire an attorney are:

1. Do you own a home together? If you do, and you haven't owned it for long, chances are that there isn't enough equity to justify attorney's fees. Houses aren't usually worth more than you owe on them when you first buy them. Unless you made a big down payment or the price of real estate is rising where you live, your mortgage is probably as much as your house is worth. You would have to be paying on it for several years to have "equity" or value that would give you any kind of profit if you put it on the market.

In many divorces, one of the parties refuses to sign his interest in the house over to the other unless payment is forthcoming. The husband / wife will demand that the other spouse cough up several thousand dollars before they will let their name be removed from the title. This makes sense if the house is worth more than you owe on it, plus the cost of selling it, but otherwise, you should be glad your spouse is assuming a bad debt.

If one of you does want the house, try to get it refinanced in the name of the person keeping it. This way, if the one who keeps it falls on hard times and can no longer make the payments, the other spouse won't have to worry about foreclosure proceedings. Even more important is that the other spouse will be better able to get another mortgage when he / she is ready to buy a new home.

If you don't know what your home is worth, get it appraised. A fee appraiser can compare your house and its present condition to others that have sold in your neighborhood. The resulting estimate will give you some idea what you should ask for it on the open market, or what your spouse should pay you for your interest.

2. Some divorce fights are over cars. It can cost a lot if you pay an attorney to go after a motor vehicle. It may seem unfair to give up a car or truck that you have been making installment payments on for months. However, it probably isn't worth more than you owe on it. Let your spouse have it if she can refinance it in her own name. An attorney's fees may be more than you'll gain if you fight for it in court.

It isn't often that you can sell a car for more than the debt against it. You should always remember what you'll have to pay an attorney when you are deciding whether a car or truck is worth receiving in a divorce settlement. You may be better off putting the money you don't spend on a lawyer towards the purchase of new transportation.

The best settlement of this issue is for both of you to keep the car you usually drive, but sometimes that is impractical. The car one of the parties uses most of the time may cost more than he / she can afford alone. or It may not be long for this world, and consequently only worth the price you could get at a junk yard minus the cost of getting it there. If the other car is newer, the person who usually drives it should compensate the other party if the good car is debt free.

3. Personal property is another money drainer in divorces. If you fight over appliances, furniture and dishes, you could end up paying your attorney a lot more than these things are worth. Furniture and appliances lose value quickly. Even if you feel you made the lion's share of the payments, and should be entitled to keep the object, you might save more money if you just cut your losses and buy new.

You have to decide for yourself what is worth fighting for in your divorce. You should hire an attorney if the item in dispute is valuable, and important to you. However, if you and your spouse can negotiate your issues, and avoid quibbling over trivial things, you might find that you can end your marriage without a lawyer's help just by filing the right forms. Ask at your local library or courthouse. Good luck.

Copyright (c) 2010 Lucille Uttermohlen

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