How Much Do You Want To Spend To Get Divorced?

There was an excellent article in the New York Times recently, about how much it costs to get divorced and what some of the alternatives to the traditional approach are.

It can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars to go through a contested divorce, and more when custody is also contested.

Sometimes it is the only option available.  If one party is failing to disclose income and assets, or joint custody is not in the best interest of the children, the process can quickly become costly.

But so often, parties are driven by rage rather than logic, and they are willing to mortgage their futures to exact revenge on their soon-to-be-ex-spouse.  Yes, they will cause that spouse to suffer, but if there are children, they will also suffer.  And the revenge seeker will suffer just as much as everybody else.  

The presumptions on property division and custody are fair in most cases, and in most cases, even if the parties decide they want to destroy each other and deplete their assets by going through a protracted divorce, they will end up with a very similar and fairly equal division of the remaining assets.  Likewise with custody, the court is only interested in the best interests of the children.  Children do best when both parents are involved in their lives, so barring proof that one parent is unsuitable, the parties will be awarded joint custody.

Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to make your spouse miserable in a contest, why not spend that on a great vacation, or save it for college?