Divorce filing fees
Butler County*
Without children $222
With children $330
Warren County
Without children $250
With children $300
*Butler County filing fees for dissolution complaints are $272 with children and $157 without.
While the weak economy is putting more stress on marriages, the cost of a divorce has gone up and made separation a tougher option and could be the reason the local rate has dropped, experts say.
The national divorce rate has slowly decreased since 1996, according to the Census Bureau, but it still remains around 50 percent for all marriages. In the past five years (2007-11), the number of domestic-relations cases filed in Butler County has dropped from 1,559 to 1,449, or 7.1 percent. In Warren County, the filings have increased from 861 to 922 (7.1 percent) during that time.
“The demand still is out there, just a lot of people don’t have the money,” Middletown divorce attorney Monte Snyder said. “In a time when people have less money, it costs more to get it done.”
Many couples are seeking counseling before seeking a divorce.
“I think the economy is the No. 1 stressor for people these days,” said Tracy Colina, a licensed marriage counselor in Fairfield with more than 20 years of experience. “I see a lot of couples coming in for counseling.”
Divorce is not cheap. In Butler County, the filing fees are $222 without children and $330 with children. In Warren County, the fees are $250 without children and $300 with children. To file a dissolution complaint in Butler County, the fees are $157 without children and $272 with children.
Snyder’s practice has managed to keep his fees lower than when he was part of another practice in 2004. But he said the court fees in many parts of Ohio have doubled in recent years.
“The state is cutting back on everything with the budget,” said Snyder, who has practiced law since 1985. “Court costs, which used to be relatively modest 10, 15 years ago, are now several hundred dollars depending upon how much litigation goes on. When I started out, it was a single filing fee, and that covered everything. Now it’s like going to a grocery store. You’ve got your initial filing fee, but most courts now charge for every single thing that you file. Every procedure that’s used adds onto the court costs.”
The other major change the economy has brought about is it now takes longer to sell a house than before the recession hit.
“It’s a huge complication, and it’s tying up a lot of the courts’ dockets badly,” Snyder said.
The court can’t divide the equity between the divorcing parties until the home sells, forcing many couples into foreclosure or a short sale.
Coyt Rains of Coyt Rains Realty has “sold a lot of houses for people who were divorcing” during his 40 years in the business.
“In a divorce situation, they want out,” he said. “They’ll often go ahead and do the short sale just to get out of it. They’re a little more apt to enter into it than people that don’t have to sell.”
Homes in foreclosure or short sales are selling within weeks right now, Rains said, and because of that, the average number of days on a market has improved to 87 days in Greater Cincinnati. But it takes almost double that time to sell a home in the regular retail market.
If one of the spouses wants to keep the house, refinancing also has become more difficult, because even if credit is good, it takes longer to find a lender, Snyder said.
“We used to write decrees routinely where (the spouse wanting to keep the house) would be required to refinance within 60 days. Anymore you’re pretty leery of that because it’s just not practical,” Snyder said.
Colina said in her counseling practice, she focuses on ways to open the lines of communication on what couples are feeling, but there is no guarantee of saving a marriage.
“Often times, their willingness to work on it is half the battle because they really want to save their marriage,” Colina said. “But a lot of times, they have waited too long and it is beyond repair.”
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