California divorce costs can differ based on if you and your spouse agree regarding the terms of your divorce; and whether you do the paperwork yourself, hire an attorney, or hire a Legal Document Assistant. A few questions to ask yourself:  Do you want to go to court and have a judge decide the financial future of your lives?  Do you have $10,000+ to spend on attorney fees?  Do you want to stay as financially and emotionally whole as possible through this process?  Can you figure out all the documents on your own and re-do them if the court rejects them?  Divorce is, by no means, an easy process.  It is emotional and can be very confusing.  We are here to help guide you through this process and keep you as financially and emotionally whole as possible.

First off, a Legal Document Assistant is a licensed and bonded paralegal that can prepare legal documents without an attorney, which is why it is more affordable.  San Diego Legal Documents specializes in divorce, small claims, evictions, and document review.

Attorney

To consider whether you may need an attorney or not, here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are we able to split our assets and debts fairly or are we in complete disagreement regarding the finances?
  • Are we able to be reasonable and put our child(ren) first to create a parenting plan or are we in a battle regarding custody?
  • Are we prepared to go to litigation, pay thousands in attorney fees, and have a judge decide our case or can we set our differences aside and attempt to get to as equitable a resolution as possible?

Obviously, an attorney does a much different job than a Legal Document Assistant.  As Legal Document Assistants, we are not able to provide legal advice or represent you in court.  Since divorce is mostly completing paperwork, San Diego Legal Documents can prepare this paperwork for you and guide you through the divorce process.  We have many resources and partners should you need an attorney consultation, a parenting class or support group, coaching, etc.

The average cost to have your divorce completed by an attorney is between $10,000 and $20,000, and that is if it is not a long drawn out process of litigation, discovery, forensic accounting, etc.  We have had clients come to us that have jointly spent over $80,000 on attorney fees, no longer have the funds to continue the process, and finally settle on an agreement that we draw up.

Legal Document Assistant

When you use San Diego Legal Documents, we work on a flat fee basis.  We do not use a retainer fee or charge an hourly rate.  You will be quoted a flat fee for your divorce and that will be the total cost from beginning to end.  We will guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have along the way.

We look forward to supporting you through this difficult process.  Feel free to reach out to us for a complimentary consultation at (858) 876-5802 or info@sdlegaldocs.com.