Hollywood has over the years brought the ‘expense’ involved in getting a divorce to the forefront of our minds in typical dramatic fashion. While there do exist divorce lawyers in Spain of the type personified by George Clooney in ‘Intolerable Cruelty’ (viewing this film could actually put you off the idea by the way) the whole process is indeed just that, a legal process that has costs associated it with it.
In this article we are looking briefly at the cost of that process rather than the various factors that could, for example. give rise to a right to receive alimony or maintenance payments which would then vary according to a number of other factors.
It is fair to say that a doubt that will always arise in the area of divorce in Spain is who has responsibility to pay the costs of the divorce? Well, if you make up your mind to go to a professional adviser in Spain then you will personally have to handle the costs associated with that undertaking. If, alternatively, the divorce is by common accord then the costs are typically as a rule shared.
In the situation of a divorce petition, also referred to as contentious divorce, the beginning point will ordinarily run well over a thousand Euros and from there upward based on the complications of the individual case. In contrast, a divorce by common accord costs are normally somewhere in the region of between “‘600 and “‘800.
So what is a divorce by common agreement?
This is where both spouses are in agreement not just as to the choice to divorce but, decisively, as to the terms of the divorce. The terms
of a divorce are detailed by the divorce agreement (known as the ‘convenio’ in Spanish) and will include such areas as:
* Custody of any issue of the marriage (children)
* Visitation Privileges
* Use of the familial home
* Maintenance Payments
* Liability for any ongoing bills/mortgage
Where the spouses are in agreement as to these issues then they may either individually or jointly apply to the court for an ‘express’ divorce. It is understandable from the above that the superior route from a financial aspect is to petition an express divorce on the premise that it is much more economical and more swift to resolve.