HOW MUCH WILL MY DIVORCE COST? CONTESTED & UNCONTESTED DIVORCES

Q: How much is my divorce going to cost?

A: The attorneys of Yanez | McGee | Kuhner, P.C. charge $200 per hour for a contested divorce, and typically require a down payment of $2500 to get started, although the amount of the down payment may vary based on the complexity of the issues. The $2500 down payment pays for the court's filing fee, the service-of-process fee for a process server to serve the petition on your spouse, and up to 11 hours of work on your case.

Q: How far does 11 hours of work get me? Can my divorce be completed for $2500?

A: It is possible that the $2500 down payment can pay for your entire divorce, depending on how complicated the issues are. In 11 billable hours, our attorneys can usually draft and file a standard petition, attend a temporary orders hearing, negotiate and draft an agreed final decree, and appear in court for a prove-up. If our attorneys have to conduct more in depth discovery and take depositions of potential witnesses; if we have to seek a temporary restraining order, seek modifications to the temporary orders during the pendency of the divorce, or seek contempt of court charges to force an uncooperative party to comply with temporary orders; if we have to attend a mediation to negotiate a agreed final decree, or if an agreement for a final decree cannot be reached in mediation and the divorce must proceed to final trial, all of these factors can increase the hours your attorney must spend and drive up the cots of your divorce. A client might expect to pay between $5000 and $10,000 or more for a contested divorce that proceeds to final trial.

Q: My spouse and I want to get our divorce done as cheaply as possible. What is an "uncontested" divorce?

A: If both spouses are willing to agree to a standard divorce decree at the outset, it possible to have an uncontested divorce. An uncontested divorce is much less expensive. The lawyers at Yanez | McGee | Kuhner, P.C. charge a flat fee of $900 for an uncontested divorce. This fee includes the court's filing fee.

An uncontested divorce is ideal if the couple has minimal property and debts, and if the couple has no children, or if the couple is willing to agree to joint managing conservatorship of the children with a standard visitation schedule.

To do an uncontested divorce, one of our lawyers will meet with you and draft a standard petition and an agreed final decree of divorce. We will file the petition and send the petition to your spouse by certified mail, along with the final decree and a "waiver of service." (The waiver of service says that your spouse is waiving his right to be served by a process server.) Your spouse will sign the final decree and the waiver of service and send it back to us. The divorce remains uncontested so long as your spouse agrees to waive service and nobody requests any changes to be made to the final decree. Once we receive the signed waiver and decree from your spouse, we bring you into court to do the prove-up. We prove up the petition, the judge signs the decree, and presto! you are divorced.

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To discuss your divorce in greater detail, please call one of our attorneys in Dallas at (214) 742-6400, or in Fort Worth at (817) 877-9944. We can walk you through the process and answer any questions you may have. It is our pleasure to serve our clients