The legal market – and family law in particular – is going through a great many changes. Despite there being over 115,000 divorces in the UK each year, Legal Aid is no longer available except for some very specialist areas of family law. There are now numerous web sites providing advice, all manner of on-line offers for divorce and there are many new entrants into the market who are competing with large and small firms of solicitors.
The purpose of the research
Whilst the providers of legal advice strive to come up with innovative pricing policies to match the numerous “fixed price” and “low price” deals for things such as do-it-yourself and on-line divorce and simpler and more transparent approaches to pricing for more complex cases, I thought it would be worth exploring the views of those who are divorcing now or who have divorced recently with specific reference to the price of divorce advice and the methods of payment available.
My intention is that feedback “from the horse’s mouth” might help providers shape their services, prices and payment methods to meet client needs more precisely. I am delighted that www.onlydads.org – (and its sister organisation www.onlymums.org) have agreed to support the survey by encouraging members of their respective communities to participate. Their websites are accessed by between 15,000 and 20,000 unique visitors every month.
The summary results (not individual responses which will obviously remain confidential) will be made available to those who request it without payment – although we would ask you to consider making a small donation to onlydads or onlymums through their web sites if you possibly can to support their ongoing work within the single parenting community.
The survey
Divorce is a huge subject and we have had to be careful not to make the survey too long. There are 24 multiple choice questions which can be answered online in a few minutes, although there is space for you to add comments and other observations.
The questions cover the following topics:
- About you and your children
- About your divorce
- Types of professional advice obtained
- Price of legal advice (and payment methods)
- Satisfaction with legal advice received
- How much should divorce cost?
- Impact of the price of legal advice on outcomes for parents and children
Take the survey here
The survey can be taken here – https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PriceOfDivorce. Whilst there is no cut-off date, it would be helpful if you could reply by the end of February 2013.
Solicitors and other providers of advice may request a copy of the summary results (when they become available) by emailing kim@kimtasso.com
