Divorce costs

Legal aid is no longer available in family proceedings unless there has been domestic abuse. However I can suggest three things which might help
1) find out if any local family law solicitors offer a free half hour appointment, many do and if you clearly write up before you go what you want to ask you may get a rough idea if you stand a chance of success at court. Please don’t waste any time in these appointment in angry ranting (tempting though it can be) half an hour goes very quickly so be prepared and use it to get an idea of viability of a claim
2) an excellent website that has lots of information and videos about how to divorce as a litigant in person
www.advicenow.org. Remember the law does not require you to have a solicitor, representing yourself keeps costs down to just the court fee application,especially if you ask that each side pays their own costs!
3) if your case looks complex someone like Citizens Advice can refer you to a charity called the Pro Bono unit where retired barristers oversee law students in assisting with court representation at no cost to the litigant. Unfortunately you can’t refer yourself but Citizens Advice can.
Good luck

Many solicitors offer half-an-hour free advice. It might be worth looking for one, but it is important to know exactly what you want to ask as 30 minutes goes so quickly.

In most cases the courts insist upon mediation which is suposed to enable the parties to find a fair solution without excessive use of lawyers (though in many cases the mediator is actually a lawyer).
Do you know why your SIL is being so difficult janep57?

Op - there are often threads about this on mumsnet with lots of current advice.

We had a solicitor each and went through arbitration. He was being a total a$rse - even his solicitor said so! - but wasn't moving from his position until a mutual friend asked him why he wanted to punish his children. It didn't go to court in the end. I paid £6,000 solicitor's fees; he presumably did too. Worth it for an airtight agreement that drew a solid financial line under the whole sorry business.

Suggest mediation...

You can usually get a free half hour with lots of solicitors.

I'm not sure, but I think there is no longer legal aid for divorce.

Try to get this settled asap. There are some very strange rulings around financial matters following divorce as we found when my DD was divorcing an impossibly difficult man. If the financial matters drag on and are not signed off, you can find, for example, that if your daughter won some money, he will be entitled to half.

Wouldnt it be up to the court to decide how much should be offered
I too have walked away with nothing, even though i apparently could have kept the house until the youngest were 16,but no one, not even my solicitor told me this

I don't know if this has already been done but please do go and visit the CAB. I am not sure what the rules are these days but would Legal Aid be a possibility? Things are changing so often that it might well be worth getting advice before making any decisions. Good luck and I hope everything works out ok.

Thanks for your replies. It’s a hard call when the other partner’s offer is so unreasonable.

This is only my personal experience
Nothing came forth from mine, not a penny but I chose to walk away with the kids and start again completely rather than drag everything through court I know that may not be many’s choice but it was right for me I didn’t have the means to lose a lot with lawyers court costs etc so preferred to have nothing but what we stood up in and I provided best I could and gradually rebuilt our lives without anything from him the children were 2,6,&8 ( they are now 51, 49 and 45 and all have professions and families of their own)
I couldn’t risk battles

In my own experience the legal costs spiral very quickly and things are dragged out for so long. Avoid it if at all possible.

I can't offer legal advice but I do have a word of warning. Don't try to pursue this indefinitely, there comes a time when compromise is called for. I went after more money from my ex as I knew there were discrepancies, I got the money but the legal costs outweighed this. I didn't have young children to consider.
I hope your daughter and family move onto better things after all the difficulties.