How much does it Cost to Get Divorced in BC?
Divorced can be applied for in several ways. To get divorced in BC one will have to satisfy any one of three criteria mentioned in the Canadian Divorce laws. When both the spouses agree to be divorced on all the counts of finance, custody or property issues, it is considered as simple divorce. The estimated cost would be a flat legal fee which could vary from four hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars. Additionally around four hundred dollars would go towards disbursements and applicable GST.
When the spouses disagree with one or all the legal issues of a divorce, then it is treated as a contested divorce and the due course of the law has to be followed for the couple to get divorced in BC. Estimating the costs of such a divorce procedure will depend on whether the divorce will go through all the stages of the divorce like pleading, establishment of financial statements, motion, examination and cross-examination, pre-trail and trail. At any stage of the divorce procedure the opposing counsels could opt for a settlement. An examination of the costs stage-wise leads to the following conclusions.
At the stage of the pleading the lawyers will prepare a petition or a statement of claim and submit to the court. The opposing counsel too will prepare a counter-claim to this petition. An Accountant and a lawyer would spend about one to fifteen hours and one to three hours per pleading. The average costs of the lawyer would be around two hundred and seventy five dollars and the costs of the accountant would average to about two hundred and fifty dollars. Therefore the total costs of both professionals get divorced in BC, at only the pleading stage would be a minimum of about five hundred dollars for the minimum time spent and spiraling to about four thousand dollars for more time spent on it.
At the second stage, the financial positions of both the parties are performed. A liability and assets list, valuation of business etc from the date of commencement of the marriage to the date of breakdown of marriage would be one set of documentation. Another set would include the income and expenditure of on a monthly, weekly and yearly basis to estimate the financial condition as of date of both the parties. The total costs of all the professionals involved for this stage would range from three thousand dollars to about thirty thousand dollars. This is a very crucial step to get divorced in BC.
In the third stage, the motion is prepared. This includes preparation of affidavits where ever required as well as the complexity of the issues that are being sorted. On an average the costs would run from one thousand dollars to about thirteen thousand dollars.
The fourth stage would be the examination and cross-examination of the different parties involved. This would involve a time period of one to twenty –five hours and preparation time of about one to eight hours. The total cost of the whole procedure would range from one thousand dollars to about twelve thousand dollars.
The fifth stage is the pretrial costing about one to eight thousand dollars and the actual trial or the last stage lasting for a minimum of one week to three weeks. The estimated costs of just the trial stage get divorced in BC stands at a staggering fifty five thousand dollars.