How much is a divorce?
What are the total costs?
The divorce costs are made up of the court costs and the legal expenses together. As a rule, this amount must be borne equally by both partners. It means that each pay half the court costs and the cost of his own lawyer got to. How high the court and attorney fees are, depends on the object value (often also called "value in dispute").
How is the amount in dispute calculated?
Strictly speaking, in most divorce proceedings there are two different items: once the value of the divorce and the value of the compensation (also called pension equalization). Since divorce and pension equalization are regulated in the same procedure, the two amounts are settled together.
The starting point for calculating the item value is your net income, where approximate information is usually sufficient. The net income of husband and wife is added together. The amount is multiplied by 3, If the couple has children, will there be an amount of 250,00 for each child? subtracted from it again.
The value in dispute for the pension equalization amounts to 1.000,00?, If only claims from the statutory pension insurance exist, from a public service employment or from an employment relationship with a right to care according to civil service principles or claims from the old-age insurance of the farmers. Another 1.000,00? Amount in dispute shall be added if other entitlements (occupational pensions, claims from private pension insurance, claims from professional pension funds) must be settled with at least one of the spouses.
Depending on the amount of the value in dispute, the court costs will be charged.
Court on costs
If your lawyer submits the divorce application, you must pay a court costs advance. An exception exists only for those who have previously been granted legal aid by the court (internal link).
What does the lawyer cost?
How high the lawyer's fee, is in the fee schedule of lawyers. If one knows the amount in dispute of the divorce proceedings, one can read off the lawyer fee from the table of fees of the Lawyers Remuneration Act (RVG). The higher the item value, the higher the fees.
For a divorce, the lawyer calculates a procedural fee and an appointment fee. They are 1.3 times the regular rate for the procedural fee and 1.2 times the appointment fee.
attorneys' fees
The lawyer can also demand a higher fee from you. For example, he can arrange with you an hourly rate, a higher item value or multiple appointment fees, if several appointments take place. A fee agreement with the lawyer is only effective if it is in writing.
For example, the hourly rates that are billed generally range between 150.00? and 300.00 ?, of course, there are also deviations up and down. Under no circumstances should you be put off by the costs and therefore refrain from legal advice! Even if you agree with your partner on most points, it is worthwhile having at least one interview with your own lawyer. For many divorce proceedings, legal aid is granted that covers all or part of your legal fees. Whether they receive legal aid, the lawyer can tell you in the first interview. It is best to ask what he calculates for a first consultation before the appointment.
A lawyer for each party?
If the two spouses agree to a large extent, a divorce can also be done with a lawyer. This represents but only the one who has commissioned him. If there are disagreements before the judge, the partner without a lawyer runs the risk that he will not be represented and thus can not submit any applications to the court.
Lawyer Almut Hannover says: "Of course, it is recommended that a divorce, which is really completely unproblematic to go through with only one lawyer. The lawyer fees are thereby reduced by half. Nevertheless, caution is advised: If only one more additional point needs to be regulated, for example child support, problems can arise. The lawyer is always only a party's representative and must clarify this to the other side. Incidentally, even in a simple divorce case, a situation may arise theoretically in which the spouse, who is then represented by a lawyer, performs better than the one without a lawyer.If, for example, a different calculation of pension entitlements from a company pension is made within the framework of the pension equalization to be performed by the court, the lawyer of the person represented in the divorce proceedings will certainly only point out if this is advantageous for his client. "
What makes divorce really expensive?
The value of the object, which is calculated from the three-time net income of the spouses, is the basis for the costs of the pure divorce proceedings, at the end of which the judge declares the marriage divorced. Significantly more expensive it is, if in addition to the so-called divorce consequences are to be regulated: Above all, maintenance disputes and the division of marital property drive the value in dispute and thus the divorce costs in the air. It may therefore make sense to agree on these points out of court.
And here are some case studies:
Divorce costs Example 1:
Man earns 3,500 EUR net - woman earns 1,200 EUR net, together 4,700 EUR x 3 = 14,100 EUR. The pension equalization is carried out (1000 EUR).
Item value: 15.100 EUR
1.3 Procedural Fee, § 13 I RVG, No. 3100 VV ..... 735,80 EUR 1,2 Appointment Fee, § 13 I RVG, No. 3104 VV ........ 679,20 EUR Expenses Fee for Postal and Telecommunication Services, No. 7002 VV ........................................ ................... 20,00 EUR 19% VAT ........................ ............ 268,85 EUR Total ................................. ...... 1703,85 EUR court costs ....................................... 484,00 EUR Total divorce costs ..................... 2187,85 EUR
Divorce costs Example 2
Married couple with a child. Man earns 1000 EUR net - woman has no income. Both agree on a mutual divorce with a lawyer. Then the woman instructs the lawyer and this will provide a legal aid application (internal link), which is also granted. No court costs have to be advanced and paid. The low because of the social case lawyer's compensation takes over the state.
Divorce costs Example 3
Both spouses are unemployed and receive unemployment benefits. Each of the parties can hire a lawyer. It will be granted legal aid (internal link) on application.
What exactly is legal aid?
However, the litigant party must use its assets as far as reasonably practicable. Property also includes an expected entitlement to advance legal costs or a claim to insurance cover.
What is legal aid?
If a person with low income and little fortune has to go to court, he can apply for legal aid. Then, depending on the income of the applicant, the state will wholly or partly take over its contribution to the court costs and the costs of the lawyer. However, it only accepts the legal fees according to the RVG (internal link), not higher fees.
Legal Aid Requirements
To ensure that processes are not deliberately run at the expense of the general public, legal aid is only granted if a process has a chance of success.
In addition, the income and assets of the applicant must be so low that he can not pay the process himself. This is the case if he has less than 15 euros a month from his income after deduction of housing costs, work-related expenses, allowances for himself and for children.
Legal aid can also be granted as a grant. In addition, installment payments are possible for the lawyer and court fees.
