Dr. Judith Gerhart, CFP
Certified Divorce Financial Analyst 
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Things You Didn’t Know: Part 2
August 14, 2009
The average divorce costs over $50,000
The popular legal DIY site legalzoom.com tells potential customers that divorce “doesn’t have to be complicated or costly” and that their services can wrap up an uncontested divorce “in three simple steps,” all for $299.
What that fee does not cover (and doesn’t purport to cover) are all the hidden costs. Using a variety of statistics from the 2006 US Census Bureau, divorce360.com came to an average figure for those hidden costs: about $53,000. While admitting that every divorce is different, the site nonetheless reached that figure by adding up costs such as couples/marriage therapy before the divorce, individual therapy for themselves and their children after divorce, moving costs, fees for attorneys and financial advisors, the costs of selling the marital home, of acquiring a new mortgage on a smaller home for one spouse, and apartment rental costs for the other spouse.
Point being, there’s far more to divorce than three simple steps.
By: Ross Bonander
Posted by Judith Gerhart on August 14, 2009 | Permalink | Post a comment
Topics: Divorce |
