[beyondblessed]

My D...... the whole thing cost me $1500, and it truly was the best money I've ever spent, without question.  I walked away with my freedom and more than half of our marital assets.  My xh paid more and got way less.....and then his idiot lawyer kept sending his bills to our home address, knowing I had sole possession of it!!  Wonder if he ever got paid?? 

[Ready2Transform]

Mine started at $250 an hour with a $1500 retainer and the first consult over the phone was free. His rates have increased, but he's given me a considerable discount since I'm pretty low-maintenance and neither of us planned for it to drag on. xH has his own attorney with at least $2K spent (if he paid them). It's still not settled and I'm over $5K in, so who knows what the total cost will end up as.

[bookwrmmom]

My consultation was $100 and since my XH succeeded in losing literally everything we owned at a rapid fire pace there was nothing to fight over in the actual divorce. The divorce itself was $650 w/my attorney and XH paid for it. Seriously there were no winners in my separation and divorce.

[MyBrainIsBroken]

My first lawyer was 175 with a 2000 retainer which she used up. My second lawyer is 250 with a 1500 retainer which is almost gone. I also get to pay for my wife's lawyer. I don't know what his hourly rate is but I've paid him 2000 and he wants another 1500.

I had some money set aside to pay our funeral expenses. My share's about gone so I can't afford to die for awhile. 

[nah]

Brain,
The Leaver paid for my lawyer b/c I guilted him into it.  Why are you paying for your wife's lawyer? 

[MyBrainIsBroken]

The NY state legal system guilted me into it.

[stillbaffled]

3500.00 retainer and 200.00 an hour. 

[nah]

The NY state legal system guilted me into it.

Strange how all the states can be so different.

I often read on here how some divorces seem to take forever (Medusa comes to mind).

I live in RI which is a predominantly Catholic state.  You would think this state would bend over backwards to at least try to prevent or at divorce.  Nope.

As most on here know I filed early, within 5 days of BD thinking it would shake him up.

We BOTH dragged our feet throughout the entire process.  He never had the required information and once didn't even show up to court.

Didn't matter.  Once we were getting close the the one year mark, BOTH of our lawyers said if we didn't show up with the required information the judge would make all the decisions for us.  We were forced to divorce as quickly as possible. 

Financially it ended up being a good thing for me b/c I received more than the courts would have required due to his guilt but I often wondered if we would still be married if the courts didn't force a decision.

[Thunder]

Jo jo,

There may also be Mediation costs, if you can't agree on things.

That differs in different state's too. 

[MoreWillBeRevealed]

$400/hr is too much. There are good lawyers out there way cheaper. Mine was $300/hr with a $200 consultation and $3,000 retainer. I regret using her but that's because H and I pretty much agreed on everything and I didn't need a high-priced attorney. We used the attorneys for the legal separation which spelled out everything. For the divorce I'm going through We the People. They draw up the divorce documents for a flat fee. Keep calling and asking around.