I don’t want to divorce. Who pays, me or my ex spouse?

Unfortunately, if you don’t want to divorce, whether or not you want the divorce is not necessarily relevant. Obviously, if you don’t want a divorce, you won’t be the one filing for a divorce in court, so you won’t incur those costs up front. But, if your spouse files for a divorce, you will need to hire an attorney and respond to your spouse in court, which means that you will then incur court costs and attorney’s fees. What’s more, if you are the primary wage earner, or if you have control of the marital assets and your spouse does not, then it is likely that either you will have to pay for your spouse’s court costs and attorney’s fees as well as your own, or the money will come from marital assets. All of that is true regardless of whether you want a divorce or not.

Karen A. Covy, J.D. is a divorce attorney and family law mediator in Chicago Illinois . She is the author of When Happily Ever After Ends, How to Survive Your Divorce Emotionally, Financially and Legally.