What does a divorce cost?

Divorce costs are all over the board. Obviously.

According to Cost Helper, a do-it-yourself divorce can cost several hundred dollars.

Which, to me, sounds cheap. My experience is so far past that amount that my brain hears a couple hundred dollars and wants to shut down. But... most of the time when I hear about the do- it- yourselfers, it is in a case where the two parties are getting along just fine and they don't have anything to argue over. And, as Cost Helper points out, a fill in the blank divorce can create some problems.

Cost Helper says that an uncontested divorce usually costs between $1,000 to $10,000 dollars. The contested divorce average is $5,000 to $25,000. But then later the article says that it can be $20,000 to $50,000 when paying hourly (which the uncontested and contested are paying as well I am sure), or it can cost even more in emotionally charged cases.

I won't tell you what I have paid thus far in my divorce case, but I will say: Ouch.

Now, I would love to have all of that money back. But I wouldn't have wanted to do this without a lawyer. The lawyer is supposed to help you get things right, to help you navigate the divorce process. They actually know what they are doing.

But don't necessarily get sticker shock. There are ways to keep costs down, like keeping phone calls with your lawyer short. But I will talk about that in another post.

Anyone want to share what they spent on their divorce?