The cost of divorce. Whether these costs are felt in feelings of betrayal or the remorse of wasted years spent trying to make something work that we knew in our hearts wasn’t right anyway. More often than not, the greatest cost of divorce is to children who discover that their parents are unable to control themselves when upset. They watch in silent horror as their parents go about the process of assured mutual destruction by dragging each other through a two-year court battle with ICBMs disguised as solicitor letters flying back and forth between them.
The family legal system is undergoing rapid change in an effort to try and help couples avoid as much of these costs as possible. The Ministry of Justice has woken up to the fact that a system supposedly designed to help families move on smoothly following a relationship breakdown, has actually been one of the greatest causes of harm for people.
Did you know that the average financial cost of divorce in the UK is just a touch under £44,000 per couple? Did you know that the average time to complete a divorce, including all of the negotiation around finances and children is approximately 14 months? Frankly, that is a lot of money, and a very long time to go through a process of ending a relationship. Don’t get me wrong, for some couples the court process is the only way of ensuring that the end of a relationship happens fairly and that both parties are able to move on with their lives, but this is by no means necessary for the bulk of divorcing couples.
By contrast, did you know that with New Landscape Mediation in Essex, the average cost of mediation a full financial settlement, and creating detailed children’s arrangements is £1,950 per couple, or £975.00 each? When we are helping couples resolve only one of these issues, the cost is usually far less. In addition to these cost savings, when couples are willing to gather the needed documents required to reach a settlement (bank statements, pension valuation and so forth) without any undue delay, we are usually able to help them reach a resolution to these issues within 10 weeks of their first contact with the service. It is figures like these, that are prompting such change in the system overall.
Nothing can take away the emotional strain of the end of a relationship but mediation can reduce all of the other costs substantially. If you too can see that the cost of family breakdown is high enough, please contact New Landscape Mediation today on 01279 2111 657 for a fully confidential, no obligation discussion of your needs and find out how we help you to lower these costs to your family.