If you are thinking about divorcing your spouse, you likely researched information online and noticed advertisements for online divorce services. These types of legal websites charge you a fee and then require you to fill out some documents. After a short amount of time, you will receive your divorce paperwork.
Although this process might seem like an efficient and easy choice, hiring an online service may lead to more problems later on.
Inability to work out spousal issues
Online divorce services only cover uncontested separations. If you and your ex-spouse have unresolved issues like property division, child support, spousal maintenance or child custody, you cannot use any online flat-rate service.
Additionally, courts will not accept the legal documents you fill out if they do not follow the rules of your local judicial system.
Lack of protection from mistakes
The quality of the legal help you receive all depends on the reputation of the online service. The company could just take your fee without providing the exact terms of the divorce you wanted to file. Even if the website is well-rated, you may still run into issues if an attorney or paralegal doesn’t check your divorce documents closely.
Since you are responsible for correcting these issues, the court overseeing your case may reject your documents if they have errors in them, forcing you to restart from the beginning. These types of mistakes are a waste of both your time and your money. In extreme cases, a mistake could even lead to lasting repercussions for your divorce.
Overall, hiring a hands-on lawyer for a traditional divorce provides the legal protection and peace of mind clients need, rather than the risk of potential issues online divorce services may create.