How Much do Family Law Trials Cost?
Vancouver Family Lawyers are familiar with the complexity of how much Family Law Trials cost. This blog is to give you a rough estimate of how much your family law matter will cost in BC if you end up in court and require the assistance of a family lawyer. Remember, it is always better to narrow down or even better, settle your issues so you don’t have to spend your life earnings on lawyers and court. If you and your spouse are decent people and have any sense of logic, you will never walk inside a courtroom. But unfortunately, in many cases, at least one of the spouses has unrealistic expectations which will cause a lot of money wasted on legal fees. Anyways,
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How Much Do Family Lawyers Cost?
The cost of doing family law trials with a family lawyer depends on the number of days the family law trial takes and the complexity of the issues. The rule of thumb is $10,000 to $15,000 per day of trial. So:
- If you have a 5-day trial, you are looking at $50,000 to $75,000;
- If you have a 10-day trial, budget for $100,000 to $150,000.
No, I am not kidding. But wait, there is a reason why they are so expensive and I will show you how to make them cheaper:
To Reduce the Costs of the Family Law Trial, First Look At the Issues:
Some of the issues, you can resolve with your spouse or do it yourselves, so you don’t have to pay legal fees for a family lawyer to do it on your behalf.
Most BC family law trials concern 5 key issues:
- Custody or parenting time;
- Spousal Support;
- Child Support;
- Property and Debt Division;
- Divorce;
So for example, if your spouse is employed and his or her income is pretty straightforward, you guys can agree on an amount of child or spousal support by calculating them online. If you resolve this issue, then no one needs to spend any time at trial proving how much should be paid.
Divorce can be done by way of a desk order or simple divorce and you may not need a family lawyer.
Property and debt divisions are a bit more complex so if there is no agreement, at least you guys can agree on the values of the properties to make it easier for your lawyer to argue what percentage of property or debt you need to get.
How to Determine the Length of Your Family Law Trial
Most family law cases take anywhere between 5 to 10 business days of trial. This is because each day of the court is usually 4 to 4.5 hours and lots of evidence needs to be given by both sides. People think trials should take no more than 2 hours or a day. But that is not the case. There are some very stringent rules around giving evidence and trials take time because they usually involve:
- Opening statements;
- Closing statements;
- Direct examination of both parties;
- Cross-examination of both parties;
- Expert evidence;
- Direct and cross-examining other witnesses.
If custody or property are contentious issues in your trial, it will likely take about 10 to 15 days to finish. If the issue is a little more straightforward, 5 days will probably be enough.
BC Family Law Trials Cost: Rule of Thumb
- For a 5-day family trial, the Rule of Thumb is $10,000 to $15,000 for each day of trial, so $50,000 to $75,000. This includes 10 days of preparation for a 5-day trial, research, preparation of questions for all witnesses, cross-examining experts, opening statements, closing statements, etc.
- For 10 day trials, the cost will be $10,000 to $20,000 per day of trial depending on the complexity of the case. So for a 10-day trial, budget anywhere between $100,000 to $200,000.
How to Further Minimize your Family Law Trial Costs in BC?
You always have the option to seek permission to do a BC Summary Trial instead of a full-blown trial. These trials cost less than half of regular trials and are much faster, are quicker and most efficient. To learn more, click here.
BC Family law trials are extremely complex and the assistance of a BC Family lawyer is almost necessary to ensure you do not lose fortunes or lose the custody of your child. To set up a consult with our award-winning lawyers, call us at 604-974-9529 or email info@ylaw.ca