newbee……………
Don’t believe what you are told.
I am a family law attorney. I don’t encourage divorce. My clients have decided to sue for divorce BEFORE they contract my services.
Here in CT, state judicial procedures require couples to undergo marriage counseling, either private or through the court, before a divorce trial can proceed.
In my decades of experience, I have found that professional marriage counseling almost always leads to divorce, not saving the marriage.
A long drawn out divorce is usually not about increasing legal fees (I typically charge a set amount for a divorce) but endless negotiations over stuff or child custody/support.
90 percent of the divorces I handle go smoothly and take the minimum 91 days required by statute.
BTW, judges in our family courts regularly require the couple have a minimum of 6 months of marriage counseling before the divorce suit can go forward.
When there are children involved, costs go through the roof and the time frames lengthens considerably. Parents are required to attend parenting classes before the divorce and custody are granted. The court may appoint attorneys for the children and guardian(s) ad litem.
To keep it in perspective in recent years my fee for an uncontested, no children divorce with one court appearance for the granting of the divorce is about $3000 plus costs. Once there are children involved, custody/support disputes or property fights the fees/costs can skyrocket.
To keep our sanity and solvency, our firm only allows each attorney to take one contested or custody issue divorce at a time.