“It depends” is the standard answer from family law solicitors when asked how much a divorce will cost in Ireland.
Of about 20 family law solicitors contacted by The Irish Times, none were prepared to give a ballpark figure for the costs of a divorce in either a contested or uncontested case involving assets of less than €3 million, a level that means any legal proceedings would stay out of the prohibitively expensive High Court.
While also unwilling to give a rough estimate in contested or uncontested high-net-worth divorce cases involving assets exceeding €3 million, several noted the costs would likely be an agreed percentage of the assets’ value, particularly in more financially complex cases.
In most family law cases each party pays their own costs, except in cases where the courts might require one side, because of their conduct during the proceedings, to pay the costs of the other.
RM Block
Among the respondent solicitors, most indicated the minimum costs of an uncontested divorce, where everything is agreed in advance and with specificity, would be €5,000. Cases involving some element of dispute, negotiation and court appearances might involve costs between €10,000 and €20,000-plus, with the level of costs rising in line with the level of dispute. On top of legal costs, there are additional costs such as for postage, fees, expert reports and value added tax (VAT) at 23 per cent.
Wealthy individuals involved in High Court divorce litigation can expect to pay substantial six-figure sums. Some parties involved in such cases may also have to pay forensic accountants’ fees ranging from €10,000 to €30,000.
The experience of some clients in divorce cases who spoke to The Irish Times revealed considerable variations, in some cases, between the costs paid by one party compared with the other.
One man involved in what he describes as an “uncontested, amicable” divorce says his solicitor billed him €5,000 but his ex-wife had paid her solicitor €18,000.
In another case, a woman says her solicitor, of whom she was a long-standing client, billed her €3,000 for a “no frills” divorce but her ex-husband paid his solicitor €7,000.
In another case, a wealthy businessman who agreed to pay his estranged wife’s legal costs in a divorce where both used the same solicitor paid a total of €200,000 to cover their bill. A company director with assets valued at above €5 million says he paid his solicitor €230,000 but he did not know what his ex-wife paid.
Solicitor Susan Webster, who heads her own family law practice, says solicitors are obliged under the Legal Services Regulation Act to provide clients with what are known as Section 150 notices. These either stipulate a set fee or set out how they propose to charge the client, such as by hourly fees or by the item – for example, letters, emails, taking instructions and issuing motions.
Solicitors’ hourly fees generally range from €250 to €400, with sometimes higher rates for partners in the firm. If the situation changes and the solicitor anticipates the bill will be more than anticipated, they are obliged to inform the client.
The point of Section 150 letters is to avoid nasty shocks for clients when they get the final bill. If a client is very unhappy about their bill, they can pursue the issue to the Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators, where the solicitor will be required to verify what work was done, who did it, how long it took and its necessity, before the adjudicator determines whether to uphold or reduce the bill.
“A case goes as quickly as the slowest person involved if they have not put in their required paperwork,” says Webster.
“I can tell clients what I need from them, but I can’t monitor the other side. Family law can be very unhappy for people. It can be very emotional and sometimes there is no logic to how people act.”
Like many of his colleagues, Keith Walsh, another well-known family lawyer, is wary when asked for ballpark costs figures, including for an agreed divorce case.
“I never had a case where I was told everything was agreed and it actually was.”
A Section 150 letter could set out an approximate figure and the solicitor is obliged to tell the client if they are deviating from that, he says.
Solicitors should be able to give a range of figures and they should stick to that and, if the costs are going to be more, the client should be told, Walsh says, adding that there are fewer “nasty costs surprises now under the new Act”.
“The amount of work in a case can be unpredictable. Everything can be going along fine and then an allegation is thrown into the mix that wasn’t mentioned before and you’ve got three months’ litigation. The client may not have told their solicitor the full story. You can end up with a house of horrors, a serious issue with kids, a breakdown, health issues.”
Some lawyers adjust their fees to the circumstances of the client, especially if they are involved with the client in relation to other matters, says Walsh.
He has experience of cases where a party is “on a mission to run up huge legal bills so the other person suffers”.
“None of that ends well. Some people are fighting a different fight.”
It is difficult to charge by the hour for family law because it takes so much time, says Walsh. A lot of information must be obtained, sometimes including Section 32 reports regarding children, at a cost between €3,000 and €5,000, and a forensic accountant in a high-net-worth case. Other issues include if a child has special needs and disputes over access and custody.
It is “not uncommon” to encounter addiction issues, he adds. “That can run up costs when a person does not engage and the other is forced to do all the running.”
A clash of parenting styles comes up a lot in cases, he says. His experience is that domestic violence/coercive control issues come up in 20-30 per cent of cases and domestic violence is a factor in an increasing number of cases.
Most family law solicitors simply don’t know from the start exactly what work will be involved, what might not have been disclosed, what might happen down the line. Not all clients are upfront
— Solicitor
“Expectations can be very different on both sides. A lot of cases involving two professional people are not coming into the High Court because the assets are not worth €3 million.” However, those cases “are still complex because they can require a valuation of a GP, dental or legal practice, the incomes of both, maybe a property or two”.
The housing crisis is “another complicating factor”, says Walsh. If someone is going to end up homeless, they will be in no rush to divorce, he says.
Another solicitor with considerable family law experience, who is based outside Dublin and spoke on condition of anonymity, says he tells clients his minimum bill for a divorce will be €5,000, plus VAT at 23 per cent. He does not charge costs per hour in family law because most of his clients are drawn from areas of some disadvantage, he says.
“My clients simply couldn’t pay if I billed in line with the time spent on the case,” he says.
Because of the rates paid by the Legal Aid Board, the solicitor says he withdrew some years ago from the private solicitor panels frequently used by the board.
“The rates are too low for the work and time involved,” he says,a view echoed by many family law solicitors and by the board itself.
Another solicitor, explaining why he could not provide an estimated sum for a divorce, says: “A painter wouldn’t give you an exact quote to paint your house without having a look around it. Most family law solicitors simply don’t know from the start exactly what work will be involved, what might not have been disclosed, what might happen down the line. Not all clients are upfront.”
Each item on a legal bill is priced in line with the time it takes, he says. A solicitor is likely to bill for up to two hours to take instructions from their client to prepare a brief for a barrister to create a civil bill, the originating document to obtain a divorce. This is likely to cost from €500 to €800, depending on the solicitor’s hourly rate.
Other documents often required in a divorce include a statement of means and pension orders. Issues can arise regarding children, such as access and maintenance, which may require court applications, adding about €2,000 or more to the bill.
In some situations of relationship breakdown, a client may lose sight of the boundaries with their solicitor and “bombard” them with phone calls and emails, sometimes late at night, he says.
“Your solicitor is not your friend. People forget that every email must be read and responded to, every call must be answered,” he says.
“That can take a lot of time. If the time involved was billed for in its totality, the true cost would be multiples of the final bill.”
