What a separation actually costs in Simcoe County

The honest answer is that it depends almost entirely on how much the two of you disagree, and hardly at all on how complicated your assets are. But "it depends" is a useless answer when you're trying to work out whether you can afford to leave, so here are real ranges from our own files over the last two years.

An uncontested separation agreement where you have already agreed the substance and need it drafted properly: $3,500 to $6,000 all in, per person. This is by far the most common outcome and it is what we steer people towards.

A negotiated agreement where there are genuine disagreements — support quantum, a business to value, a disputed parenting schedule — but nobody files in court: $8,000 to $18,000 per person, over four to nine months.

A contested file that gets to a settlement conference and settles there, which most litigated files do: $25,000 to $45,000 per person. A file that goes all the way to trial: $60,000 upward, per person, and eighteen months to two years.

The gap between those numbers is the entire argument for negotiating. The most expensive single decision in a separation is usually not a legal one — it is the decision to keep fighting about something that is worth less than the cost of fighting about it.

Two things reliably drive costs up and are worth naming. The first is non-disclosure: if one party will not produce financial documents, everything takes three times as long and courts have to be involved. The second is using the children's schedule as leverage in a money dispute, which converts a solvable problem into two unsolvable ones.

If cost is the thing stopping you from getting advice at all, say so when you call. A one-hour consultation at $340 that tells you where you stand is cheaper than a year of not knowing.