How to file for divorce without a lawyer.

Divorce is expensive no matter how you look at it. But hiring a lawyer is VERY expensive. Filing for divorce may seem like a daunting task, but a little time and patience and you can do it on your own.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A computer, or use of one and a printer.
• Patience
• Time
• About $600
• organization

1. Visit your local clerk of court website. You can find this one of two ways. Either call your local clerk of court and ask them for the website address, or simply google it. Put in the name of your city and state and clerk of court and it will pop right up.

2. Go to the place on the site to download documents. Personally I did this at the library as the librarians and helpers there can be a huge help and it can use a lot of ink from the printer. At about 10 cents a page I believe I spent under 2 dollars to print all the pages needed.

3. Go home and call your clerk of court. Tell them your situation, ie- have assets vs no assets, have children vs. no children, have debt vs. no debt. Find out from them exactly which papers YOU need to file. The papers needed are different for each case. Personally I filled out ALL the papers and then when I went to file the woman there helped me separate which I didn't need. Better to have more then you need then less.

4. Fill out all the paper work. Now unfortunately this may require a call to your ex to decide who will get what assets, and who will pay what debt, but if you explain to your ex that this will save them thousands in the long run they may be more willing to work with you then you think.

5. Have your ex served with the divorce papers. This usually costs about 25 dollars and a sheriff will personally hand them to your ex.

6. File the paperwork with the court. This is where your cost will come in. Its about $500. But well worth it. When you see ads in the paper saying "divorce for $199, kids included" its a lie. They are talking about the fee they will charge you to fill out the paperwork, not the filing fee. NO matter what you will have to pay the filing fee whether you go through a lawyer or not. Personally I found it very satisfying doing the work myself. It gave me closure and made me more confident.

7. 

   Sit back, have a glass of wine and wait for the court date to be mailed to you! You are on your way to the single life! Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

[iamageniuster]

on 10/30/2008 Very good advice. I'll try this out. 5 stars!

[Momof3infl]

on 10/30/2008 Thanks for the comment! Wish I lived there! There are huge filing fees here in Florida!

[Alisiane]

on 10/6/2008 Wow, not sure which state you are in, but I did all of the foot and paper work on my divorce here in Cali and there were no fees of any kind involved. Also I had a friend serve him, so I saved funds there too. Procedure probably varies from state to state, but you've def laid out a lot of helpful ino no matter where people live :-)