Sir, I have just read with considerable dismay that contested divorces could cost £9,000 per spouse with "considerable reductions" for non contested divorces. What, I ask, is a considerable reduction? Why should separated people who wish to divorce be burdened further with this kind of financial hardship?
I am in my seventh year of separation. My ex partner and I both work in the helping professions.
We worked out our own separation agreement and subsequently legalised it. We enjoy a co operative co parenting arrangement in respect of our child on an equal, shared care basis, which has worked out well over the years. We are responsible parents like many others who have separated. We will also go for a responsible divorce. Why should the legal profession profit from the trauma of a marriage ending (which is second in the scale of stressful life events)? Those of us in this situation have suffered enough already. Many of us are capable of working out our own divorce agreement, of filling up whatever forms need to be filled and presenting ourselves in court minus legal representatives. Such a system exists in England and costs £100 per divorce. A huge legal bill could possibly put me in the position of selling my home to meet these costs. This is hardly in my son's or my own interests.
Much of the research literature on marital separation repeatedly makes the point that agreement reached by the couple themselves is by far preferable to getting caught up in the legal adversarial process, especially where children are concerned.
I call on the Minister for Law Reform and Equality to introduce a scheme, as outlined, where responsible people can process and own their own low cost divorce without being ripped off by the legal system. I would also like to hear the views of TDs on this matter. - Yours, etc.,
Griffith Road,
Dublin 11.