Unbundled Legal Services in Tampa Divorce Cases

Unbundled Legal Services: An Affordable Option in Tampa Divorce Cases

By Thor Hartwig, a Divorce Attorney in Tampa, Florida

So you want to represent yourself in your Tampa divorce?

cheapest way to get divorced in tampa and brandon florida.jpg

I totally understand and contemplated the same thing while going through my own divorce in Hillsborough county. At the time, I wasn’t a divorce attorney yet and the cost of retaining a local Tampa divorce attorney shocked me. While I ended up going with an attorney, in hindsight, I think that if I had represented myself I could have done a lot of the work without too much issue.

A lot, however, I would have needed help with. If I had known it was an option to hire an attorney to help me with certain, limited aspects of my divorce case, I would have probably gone that route and saved thousands of dollars in the process.

And this is where Unbundled Legal Services come in.

Since 2003, the Florida Supreme Court has set forth criteria for attorneys to represent clients in a limited capacity, and it is especially valuable in divorce proceedings.

Because the bottom line is that much of the work can be done by a motivated individual with good reading comprehension and writing skills.

So maybe you can fill out the dissolution paperwork and file it downtown with the clerk, and you can attend your own status conference, where the judge simply wants to get an update on where the case is at.

Then there might be aspects that you would feel more comfortable having a divorce attorney handle. Like filing motions, doing legal research, representing you at mediation, hearings and even at the trial itself.

Other things a divorce attorney can do for you, on a limited basis, include preparing marital settlement agreements, parenting plans, going to uncontested final hearings, respond to discovery requests, demand discovery from opposing party and coaching you on hearings that you plan on handling yourself.

So the days of the “all or nothing” legal representation in divorce have long been over, but few divorce attorneys in the Tampa Bay area disclose this to you in an initial consultation. After all, it doesn’t pay as much to represent a client in a limited or unbundled capacity.

This doesn’t help the client that doesn’t want to spend their children’s college fund getting a divorce. And nowadays, a divorce shouldn’t empty the coffers.

This leaves unbundled legal representation as a great option for many people. The best part is that you can tailor the representation to suit your needs and fit your strengths and weaknesses.

Maybe you can figure out how to do legal research and write a motion, but you are terrified of speaking in front of other people? Then you could do the legwork on the things you feel comfortable doing, and then hire a divorce attorney to represent you in the courtroom or at mediation.

Or maybe you feel that you can handle everything you need to in the divorce process, but you first need to get an idea of how the divorce process actually works, and when you need to do what? You could then retain a divorce attorney to advise you on the many aspects, stages and nuances of a divorce case.

There are untold ways a person seeking a divorce could use this to get through the process in a more affordable way. It just depends on the individual.

It is now 2018. Don’t feel that there is still only one way to get legal representation in a divorce. Explore your options, consult with an attorney, and find what suits your needs and budget the best.

Here is a snapshot of how expensive Florida divorces can be:

In 2010, the International Academy of Collaborative Divorce published the statistics from a four-year study on Florida divorce cases. Here are some of numbers they found:

47% of Florida divorce clients paid more than $20,000 on their divorce.

17% of the divorce cases were considered easy or very easy, meaning they had few issues, or were resolved relatively quickly.

Almost half of the “easy” cases cost the client more than $7,500.

39% of the divorce cases were considered moderately difficult.

Almost half of the “moderate” cases cost the client more than $15,000.

44% of the divorce cases were considered difficult or very difficult.

Almost 40% of the “difficult” cases cost the client more than $37,500.

The biggest factors that led to a more difficult divorce case included: lack of trust between the parties, figuring out child custody, alimony and spousal maintenance, distribution of assets and clients being unrealistic about their expectations in the divorce.

As you can see, the cost of divorce can quickly rise depending on the difficulty of the case. Statistics like this have led many to pursue alterative routes to getting a divorce, such as unbundled legal services and collaborative divorce.