Survey shows financial strain on parents and the legal system
Eyewatering bills are being run up by parents finding themselves embroiled in custody battles.
The 2024 Shared Parenting Scotland annual user survey of clients who have received the charity’s help in the past year has revealed the financial costs parents have to shoulder when asking the legal system to settle arrangements for time with their children after divorce or separation.
Some 13% of those who responded to the survey had faced costs of £100,00 plus in lawyers’ fees, court costs and professional reports such as Child Welfare Reports or Child Psychology Reports.
A further 24% had spent more than £25,000. In all more than 54% had spent more than £10,000.
Fathers and mothers who responded to the survey explained they had mortgaged their home, and borrowed from family and friends to cover the costs. One had lost their home completely.
Elsewhere in the User Survey, 22% said they were eligible for legal aid but were forced to pay as private clients because they could not find a solicitor to take on their case.]
Shared Parenting Scotland national manager, Ian Maxwell, said: “These are eyewatering sums. There must be a better way.
"Many of these individuals paying privately may have had their ex-partner funded by legal aid on the other side so the total costs of their court case will be far greater than their own bills.
"Some report an impression that when their ex-partner receives legal aid they have no incentive to reach a negotiated settlement.
"It is unlikely that the general public – and maybe not all sheriffs – appreciate the high cost of ‘going to court’.
"Our preferred solution is to find ways of resolving disagreements about sharing the parenting of their children after divorce or separation outside the adversarial approach of the courts, except for the minority of cases that raise points of law or difficult evidence.
"Jurisdictions around the world are exploring a ‘problem-solving’ approach that is less damaging to children, less costly, faster and doesn’t compel parents to attack each other to win time with their children.”
