My spouse and I have a simple marital estate and have agreed on the terms of our divorce. Do we really need to hire separate legal counsel? It is always best to have independent legal counsel when preparing to file for divorce or at least prior to agreeing to the entry of a consent judgment of divorce. Once a property settlement is entered with the court, for example, it cannot be appealed and is rarely, if ever, modified by the court. In some cases, however, where the terms of the divorce are agreed upon, one attorney is able to draft the judgment of divorce and have it entered with the court. Even in these cases, the attorney will represent only one of the two divorcing parties and the other person is essentially unrepresented. This most often occurs in divorces without children. If such an arrangement is consented to by both parties, there is an unquestionable significant savings in legal fees.

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