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Can't Buy Me Love, but Divorce Could Cost $100K

Paperwork's cheap, but hiring lawyers, dividing real estate, finding therapy adds up

By Victoria Floethe,  Newser User

Posted Jul 6, 2008 3:30 PM CDT
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(Newser) – In the current financial climate, getting unhitched has become all the more ruinous, Divorce360.com reports. Selling your home, hiring attorneys, shelling out for therapy, and finding temporary housing add up to a burly bottom line, with one attorney estimating that divorce "can run anywhere from $1,820 (uncontested) to hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Many couples are opting for mediation to cut costs, or remaining in the same household until they can afford to split. The real-estate climate has become a sticking point: With property values low, one spouse buying the other's equity in a marital home isn't as difficult, "but paying the steep mortgages on your own is tough," a financial planner said.

Divorce mediator Dan Simon, center, meets with Renatta, left, and Jon Hunt at Simon's uptown Minneapolis, Minnesota office to develop a divorce agreement.
Divorce mediator Dan Simon, center, meets with Renatta, left, and Jon Hunt at Simon's uptown Minneapolis, Minnesota office to develop a divorce agreement.   (KRT Photos)
In this June 29, 1953, file photo, Barbara Bobo Rockefeller leaves the Park Avenue apartment of her estranged husband, Winthrop Rockefeller, in New York.
In this June 29, 1953, file photo, Barbara "Bobo" Rockefeller leaves the Park Avenue apartment of her estranged husband, Winthrop Rockefeller, in New York.   (AP Photo/John Rooney, File)
Be glad you aren't them...Britney Spears paid more than $1 million in attorney fees for her custody case.
Be glad you aren't them...Britney Spears paid more than $1 million in attorney fees for her custody case.   (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, FILE)
A British judge awarded Heather Mills $47.5 in her divorce settlement from former Beatle Paul McCartney.
A British judge awarded Heather Mills $47.5 in her divorce settlement from former Beatle Paul McCartney.   (Getty Images)
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