A response to the Irish Independent’s feature on divorce costs, offering a practitioner’s perspective on fees, delays, and what’s really driving the expense.
The Irish Independent ran a very good feature this week by Édaein O’Connell titled ‘My ex contested the divorce. It ended up costing me €45,000’: the high costs and secret shame of ending a marriage. It’s a powerful piece that honestly captures the emotional and financial toll of divorce in Ireland, featuring real stories from people who’ve been through it, along with expert commentary from Dr Nicole Kapelle, former Minister Josepha Madigan, and solicitor Keith Walsh.
I’m focusing on the costs and delays involved in divorce. There are other factors discussed, but they are beyond my remit and largely a matter for the Dáil. I understand the article is saying that Patricia’s fees are too expensive. I’ll attempt to offer my two cents on whether they are, demystify fees, and potentially offer some solutions.
My Background and Bias
First of all, I preface this article by saying that I come at this from the viewpoint of a solicitor who owns and runs a solicitor’s practice, so necessarily my views are slanted in a certain direction. I will try to see the opposing point of view.
Why Legal Fees Are So High in Ireland
First, legal fees are expensive in Ireland compared to other European countries (not necessarily the USA). There’s a slightly boring but important reason: Ireland is now the only EU country with a common law system. The European model is judge-led and inquisitorial, whereas Ireland’s common law system is adversarial and party-led.
There is significantly more investment in the courts by European countries, and the judge does most of the work. There are many multiples of judges per person in other countries than Ireland. So your taxes pay most of the costs in Europe. In Ireland, it is more like the courts provide a referee (a judge) and a room, and the rest of the costs are borne by the respective parties to the litigation. The idea is that both parties are of equal strength and, like a boxing match, the teams slug it out and the referee calls the winner and ensures a fair fight. In Europe, the judge uses all resources to find the truth.
In Ireland, in a normal litigation case about a business dispute, it may be required to interrogate rooms full of documents – all this expense is paid by the respective litigants. Family law is just another type of litigation, so the same principles apply. If the partner (with no money) of a person with €100 million in assets seeks to divorce their spouse, they’ll be responsible for paying the large legal fees, forensic accountants, etc. The judge won’t step in and say, “You may not have discovered €50m of your partner’s assets, you should do more work”. They simply rule on what’s before them and don’t take the respective power and wealth of the litigants into account.
The Business Reality of Running a Legal Practice
Legal fees are also expensive because we live in a prosperous country. Solicitors’ practices are businesses just like a supermarket or hairdresser and need to be run at a profit. Currently, the demand for solicitors in Ireland, especially in Dublin, is very high. Think of all the multibillion-dollar companies based in Ireland – there are a large number of American, UK, and Irish major solicitor firms located here to cater for these businesses. These firms can pay newly qualified solicitors €70-80k per year. Family law firms are essentially fishing in the same waters for talent.
Solicitors base their costs on the amount of solicitors’ time it takes from the start to the conclusion of the case. In order to pay even a newly qualified solicitor and make a profit, a solicitor’s practice is required to charge a minimum of €250 per hour. Generally, the most basic of divorce cases would take 40 hours of solicitors’ time, so that equates to €10,000 solicitors’ fees. Then there is VAT at 23% and outlays such as postage, meeting room fees, and barristers’ fees, which would range ballpark between €3,000 and €6,000 plus VAT.
As you can see, it is the same as any other business; there is the cost of the goods and a certain profit percentage for the business owner, and this is the price to the consumer. As with specialists in any area of life, such as heart surgeons to hairdressers, those with experience and a reputation for excellence are entitled to charge substantially higher based on demand.
The Transparency Issue
One of the issues raised in the article is that the lady referred to (Patricia) references that she did not know how much the case was going to cost her, and that she ran up a legal bill by asking lots of questions. This is not unusual. It is unfortunate that when people are going through this difficult time in their lives, they are not always focused on diving into long correspondence regarding fees from their solicitors. Instead, they just want to get things moving.
I have no doubt that Patricia received a letter explaining the fees in detail, as every solicitor is obliged to do this, and it is almost a hanging offence not to provide this letter. It could be said that solicitors are not always as up front and transparent about legal fees and sometimes solicitors work on the basis that they work for 3 years (or 7-10 years in Patricia’s friends examples) without being paid and when the case is finished bill the client for what seems an “extortionate” amount of money. Were the client informed at each step of the way how much she owed, then perhaps she may not have spoken to the lawyers quite as much, but equally, most likely the bill would be broadly the same, as she had to deal with each aspect of the case as it arose. For instance, in this case, she couldn’t have simply done some of it herself or not engaged in the appeal. Having a solicitor engaged in any litigation is a serious business.
Legal Costs Are Actually Accountable
While one of the main complaints about legal costs is that they are not transparent and seem to be plucked from the sky, it does not seem to be widely known that legal costs are completely accountable. There is a government institution that is dedicated to adjudicating on whether a person’s legal bill is too large. It is called the Legal Costs Adjudicator.
How this works is that the consumer receives a copy of their file, which contains all the work effected by the legal team during the course of their case. This file is handed to a specific professional called a legal costs accountant, whose job it is to value each and every piece of work performed in a case. While the time put into a case is a factor, there are other factors that also contribute to a fee.
One of these factors is value, for instance, a divorce with €100 million in assets does not attract the same fees as one of smaller value. In addition, if a case is more complex and has unusual or novel areas of law, this would also attract higher rates. While I accept that to the uninitiated, it can seem quite archaic, it could equally be argued that there isn’t a specific state institution in place to adjudicate on, for instance, accountants’ fees.
On Mediation and Its Limitations
Some of the commentary in the article mentions that the required time for seeking a divorce should be shortened and that mediation should be explored more readily. It could be said that in Ireland, the legislature has decided that marriage is a serious institution and should not be entered into or exited out of lightly. Being married carries with it a lot of responsibilities and rights regarding property, maintenance, pensions, succession, etc, etc. Disentangling this institution and these rights is not and is never going to be simple.
Dissolving a business partnership, where people have fallen out, is quite difficult. Where there are even higher emotions and longer relationships and children involved in a marriage, the degree of difficulty is increased tenfold. I would say that this is a generally accepted wisdom, yet it is suggested that mediation is the solution to all the difficulties/expense/ length of time involved in divorce.
Mediation is where someone has no access to legal advice, so they are effectively negotiating blindly and are attempting to agree with someone whom they most likely have very strong negative feelings for. To put it mildly, it is not the solution to all the issues raised. Where there is conflict, sometimes it can be best to have someone to advise and fight for you who is at arm’s length and isn’t clouded by emotions. Ultimately, where emotions are heightened, and people will not move from stubborn positions, they may require someone, ie, a judge, to decide for them.
The Reality of Court Delays
The other focus of the article is that the process takes too long. It is always mentioned that there are court delays. Patricia’s case took more than two years and this is quick, but she references cases that took 7 -10 years. While no system is perfect, and I accept that our current system could be described as archaic, I don’t believe that the delays are that bad in Ireland if the parties are motivated.
For instance, if the parties are motivated and attend to what is asked of them and complete affidavits, provide bank statements quickly, they can have their proceedings completed within six months. Even if matters are contested and a full hearing is required, a hearing date can be provided within 4/5 months of confirmation that the case is ready for hearing. The reality is that it is people themselves who contribute to the delay in completing the process by not attending to what the court requires of them.
Other times, cases have a larger degree of complexity. A court-ordered psychological report may need to be prepared, which can take a number of months. If a person appeals a case, this will necessarily add a long time to the case. I do not agree that cases always take too long. As previously said, it’s not a simple business that can be done without care. In the same way that arguably a marriage costs money, ie, ceremony, honeymoon, etc, hence a divorce should cost money, a marriage takes time to enter into, it will necessarily take some time to be exited.
Final Thoughts
To conclude, while the system we have is not perfect, culturally, we are not going to change overnight and develop a perfect European model. Our legislature would not want to be seen spending billions on changing the system when arguably our health system is far from perfect. The more fundamental issue is the access to justice for certain people in the Divorce sphere. The threshold income for legal aid is quite low and rules out a large cohort of people who effectively have less disposable income than those on social welfare. The main thing that everyone wants is that the process is fair, and that includes both sides in the court process having equality of arms, and both teams having good specialist legal teams is a necessity to achieve this.
*The information on this page is for general awareness only and does not constitute legal advice. Family law outcomes depend on individual circumstances and judicial discretion. You should not rely on this content when making decisions and should seek advice from a qualified solicitor about your specific situation.
Contact Us for Expert Family Law Advice
If you are in need of a Family Law Solicitor in Dublin in a divorce where there are assets involved, please contact us at The Family Practice.
Jeremy Ring is a senior family law solicitor and co-founder of The Family Practice in Dublin.
Over his 15-year career, he has advised clients in divorce and separation cases involving combined assets exceeding €10 million, including business valuations, pensions, and inherited property.
