Can I leave my solicitors and self rep?!

Hey guys,

I feel like I have a big decsion to make, in breif I am not too far away from my court hearing for FDR. I have to date spent close to £20,000 on solictor fees, I must admit, I value some elements of their service but not all, much of which I would feel more than capable completing myself. Issue is that over the next 6 weeks, they estiamte a further 8-10k before the FDR, I am at a point now when this is now getting too much, i've worked all my life, carefully looked after my finances and worked hard but am now being hit with having to pay unfathamoable amounds of money and at times question for what exactly, am i paying for these services out of fear of the unknown, just because it seems like the right thing to do, because of the money at stake it is worth the expenditure, i am so lost with it all and its this part of the process which is really getting me down.

So going back to me point, I would like to at this point cut ties with my solicitors and continue the rest of the process on my own. I will engage with a barrister directly for the court hearing as i do see great value in that. Does anyone believe this to be a good and fair move or would I be making a big mistake, if that is the case please can you provide me with some reasoning.

Thanks for anyone in advance who is able to give up some of your time to help me here.

How much money is at stake between your two respective positions to have got this far without agreement? How does that stack against what you potentially will spend on representation to get someone else to make a decision on your behalf

Well currently I have no idea what their position is as they have made no offer so am totally unsure as to how they will position things. Roughly 900k total assets to be split.

Loads of people self rep.
You need to be organised and put some work in.
When it comes down to writing up the final Consent Order though get a solicitor to do it. It doesn’t matter which of you pays them but it needs to be worded correctly. There is a fixed rate service on here.

Yes, agree with you there, would utilise a solicitor to draft up the consent order.

I am at the stage where the following needs to be done ahead of the FDR, are these straight forward to take over and complete?

Evidence at the financial dispute resolution appointment (whether court-based or private)
17.
a. The parties shall produce an electronic hearing bundle which complies with:
i. FPR 2010 PD 27A;
ii. The President’s Guidance on E-Bundles of 21 December 2021;
iii. General Guidance on Electronic Bundles of 29 November 2021;
iv. Advisory Notice from the Financial Remedies Court of 19 April 2022.
b. The applicant husband shall prepare a bundle containing:
i. an updated composite case summary using Template ES1;
ii. an updated composite schedule of assets using Template ES2;
iii. a composite chronology recording in neutral terms the key dates of the parties’ relationship and of the litigation and where any unagreed events are clearly denoted;
iv. a summary of the issues to be determined;
v. all applications and orders made in these proceedings, the parties narrative Forms E, the parties narrative replies to questionnaire and any ordered expert reports.
c. The bundle shall be agreed if possible by both parties. The applicant husband shall send the respondent wife a draft index for the bundle by 4pm not later than 10 days before the financial dispute resolution appointment, and the respondent wife shall send the applicant husband

Yikes, where do I even start with all of this If i do take it on on my own!?