Let's talk about something a bit awkward: the moment you open a legal bill and feel your stomach drop slightly, not because your solicitor's done anything wrong, but because you've just paid premium hourly rates for something that, looking back, you probably could have sorted yourself in twenty minutes.
I want to be really clear about something before I go any further, because I don't want this to read as me having a dig at solicitors when it's quite the opposite - indeed I know first hand why the hourly rates are what they are - I know how much it costs to run a firm, how much time is spent on the every day predicament of simply keeping the lights on. Good lawyers are worth every penny when you need them, and there are moments in this process where trying to manage without one is genuinely a false economy. Complex legal arguments, high conflict issues, anything where the stakes are high and the law is genuinely unclear... that's exactly what they trained for, and exactly where their time is best spent.
But here's the thing nobody quite says out loud: a huge amount of what gets billed at solicitor rates in financial remedy proceedings isn't legal advice at all. It's admin. It's form-filling. It's chasing documents, explaining process, and answering questions that have nothing to do with legal judgement and everything to do with simply not knowing how the system works (yet).
So if you've got a solicitor, here's how to make sure their time (and your money) is put to good use.
One: understand the shape of the process before your first meeting, not during it
Every hour you spend asking your solicitor "so what actually happens after Form E?" is an hour billed at legal rates for something you could have learned for free, or for a fraction of the cost, beforehand. Walk into meetings already knowing the stages, the rough timeline, and the terminology, and watch how much faster — and cheaper — those conversations become.
Two: do your own form-filling groundwork
Form E doesn't need a solicitor to gather your bank statements, payslips, and pension valuations. It doesn't need them to organise your paperwork into some kind of sensible order. Do the legwork yourself, hand it over organised and complete, and let your solicitor's time go on the bits that actually need their judgement — not on chasing you for a P60 you could have found in ten minutes (and if you don't know how to do this, we have tons of resources in the Divorce Lawyers Members membership site that teaches you exactly this)
Three: prepare your questions before you call, not during it
We've all done it picked up the phone with a vague sense of unease and then lose the thread (or focus) halfway through the conversation, while the clock was running. Write your questions down first. Be specific. A focused fifteen-minute call beats a meandering forty-five-minute one every time, for both of you.
Four: know which questions are legal, and which are simply process
"Is this disclosure adequate?" is a legal question. "What does FDA stand for?" isn't it's just process, and it's exactly the kind of thing you can know in advance rather than paying to be told. Learning to tell the difference is one of the single biggest cost-savers in this entire process.
Five: bring structure to your own narrative
If your solicitor has to spend an hour untangling a chronology of your finances or your relationship before they can even start advising you, that's an hour of legal time spent on something that was really just organisation. Get your facts, dates, and figures into clear order before you hand anything over.
Six: know when the right professional isn't actually a solicitor at all
This is the one I think gets missed the most. Not everything that feels like a "divorce problem" is actually a legal problem. If you're struggling with the emotional weight of decision-making, or you and your ex genuinely cannot have a civil conversation about anything, that's not something more solicitor hours will fix - you may need relationship coaching, or an outcome facilitator, or sometimes a good therapist. Bringing in the right support, at the right moment, for the right kind of problem, often resolves things faster and far more cheaply than trying to make your lawyer do the job of a therapist at legal rates.
Seven: separate "I need legal advice" from "I need someone to explain this to me"
This is really the thread running through everything above. A solicitor's value lies in judgement, strategy, and advocacy — not in being your translator for a system that's confusing by design. The more comfortable you are with the basics of process and procedure, the more your solicitor's expensive hours go toward the things only they can actually do for you.
None of this is about going it alone or cutting corners on proper legal advice when you genuinely need it. It's about making sure that when you do pay for it, you're paying for the bit that actually requires a qualified professional — not the bit that just requires someone to have explained the process to you once.
If you want a head start on exactly that, it's worth having a proper look around the Divorce Without Lawyers website — there's a free download that helps you with more tips on saving money, there are video downloads on things to think about before hiring a lawyer, along with details of upcoming events if you fancy learning some of this face to face. And if you'd rather have ongoing support in your corner as you go, that's exactly what the DWL membership community is there for — a space to ask the "silly" questions without the hourly charging rate, so the expensive questions are the only ones left for your solicitor.
Either way: the more you understand going in, the further your money goes once you're in it.
About the Author: Ellie Foster
Ellie Foster is a qualified family lawyer and the founder of Divorce Without Lawyers.
With nearly three decades of experience in family law —ranging from speciaist, niche London firms to Milton Keynes High Street, Ellie combines deep legal expertise with a straight-talking, common-sense approach.
Having seen from personal experience how difficult and overwhelming divorce can be, she is passionate about stripping away the legal jargon to give people the practical roadmaps, templates, and confidence they need to manage their divorce affordably and effectively.
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