Can you get a cheap online divorce in California WITHOUT a lawyer? Of course, but why would you want to do so? You would be taking huge risks with your legal and economic future.
Avoid Traditional Full-Representation Lawyers
These are what most consumers think of as typical divorce lawyers. There are thousands of these traditional divorce lawyers in California. They all look and sound exactly the same.
They are all scared to stand out from the me-too lawyer crowd. They all tell you on their websites that they are “trusted” and “compassionate” and “good listeners” and “will treat you like family” and whatever other nonsense they think you want to hear.
Some of what they claim about themselves may even be true, but they offer no proof. They also know that all of their competitors are making the same claims to you with the same proof.
So how smart are these lawyers and how smart do they think you are? You are looking for benefits that will enable you to divorce smarter and move on. All
they are telling you is about themselves. Not smart.
None of these divorce lawyers offers online divorce services. They don’t want to handle online divorce. They only know how to do one thing. They have a one-size-fits-all mentality. If it’s a choice between your future legal and economic interests and the lawyer’s income, guess who looses.
If you want some fun, call one or two of these lawyers and tell them you have a simple uncontested divorce and you’re looking for a low flat fee. Then just sit back and listen. They will try to convince you that you need their high retainer/full representation services by scaring the crap out of you about something that MIGHT happen in your case.
The way to deal with something bad that MIGHT happen in your case is to be aware of the danger and watch for it. A headache might be brain cancer, but it probably isn’t. If you have a headache, you would not immediately hire an expensive brain surgeon. You’d take an aspirin and monitor the situation. It’s the same with divorce.
If you use an Online Divorce Lawyer and the case blows up into a contested case, it will cost you more. You expect that. But it will be increased cost as a result of the facts of your case, not because some dishonest lawyer has scared you. And the Online Divorce Lawyer is still a divorce lawyer on your team.
You will have controlled your cost to the maximum extent. You will not have paid the highest price automatically just because something MIGHT happen.
The problem with the providers in this group is that they are all aggressive up-sellers. Their only goal is to get you signed up to a cheaper package and then up-sell you to a $1500-$4500 package.