Divorce lawyers making up to SR60,000 per case

Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Lawyers are making high profit through divorce cases as a single case may cost up to SR60,000, Al-Watan daily reported. Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution member and lawyer Assim Mullah said the courts process an average of 123 divorce cases each day. The rate of divorce and khula (where a woman petitions the court to get a divorce) is very high in the Kingdom. "Family lawyers are profiting a lot from specializing in divorce cases. In 2013, there were a total of 44,839 divorce cases and 1,534 khula cases,” said Mullah. He said he no specific statistics about the number of lawyers dealing with divorce cases. “For the most part, clients do not need to have a lawyer to process a divorce. Women are free to visit the Personal Status Court and simply file cases against their husbands. However, some cases involve complicated settlements in which the lawyer and the client may agree on the payment,” said Mullah. He added some lawyers take as much as 50 percent of the settlement amount and some take 100 percent. “The rate differs depending on the experience and hours of service expected from the lawyers. Some clients hire lawyers to handle the case until they present the case to the court room and others expect the lawyers to handle the case until the divorce deed is issued,” said Mullah. Legal consultant Nazih Musa said dealing with divorce cases as a lawyer is highly challenging and it is a sensitive job. “Lawyers are usually hired by women and they are usually men. The lawyer would be obliged to face their clients' husbands who often times take their frustration and anger on the lawyers. Moreover, divorce cases are usually complicated and consume a lot of time. Married couples accuse one another of accusations that are difficult to prove and the lawyer has the responsibility of verifying these accusations and using them in court to the advantage of their clients,” said Musa. Lawyer Bayan Zahran said there is no authority specifying the fee for lawyers as each lawyer is free to state their own rate depending on their experience and the type of case they are working on. “It is hard to define a rate which will work for all lawyers. Each case is different and is dealt with differently. The relation between the lawyer and the client also plays a role. We received a lot of criticism saying the lawyer’s rates in divorce cases are more expensive than the dowry. It is an unfair comparison because there is no relation between the two amounts,” said Zahran.