Newbie question - solicitor pros and cons

Hello everyone, this is my first posting here and I'm very much a newbie on this site.

By way of introduction, I am currently married, however my wife of seventeen years has decided that marriage is no longer for her, and we have pretty much decided to split up. If I could afford to move out I would, but for now we are both still living in the marital home with our two teenage children. Until a financial settlement is in place I suspect this might be the best thing to do anyway.

So...as a likely petitioner for an uncontested divorce, I have had a couple of meetings with a local solicitor and find the fees to be painful to say the least.

Looking at the Gov website which provides online application for divorce, it appears the only charge is the £550 court fee. Is that right? Then there are online-only legal services that appear to charge only a few hundred pounds on top of that fee.

I'd be interested to get some opinions on the pros and cons here - what service does a high street solicitor provide that justifies the additional expense, especially where the divorce is uncontested?
Likewise, what do the online services potentially not provide?

I can see the need to use a solicitor to finalise the financial agreements, but the rest is unclear.

Thanks

A high street solicitor will have a high street office that has to be maintained and paid for. They probably take on other work besides divorce so don't deal with the volume etc etc.

If you're happy to do it yourself the actual divorce is really easy.

If you can come to an amicable fair agreement you don't even need to get legal advice for the financial side of things you can just get it drawn up by a solicitor to ensure it is correctly worded.

Check out the services on here.

I work for a firm of solicitors. The most obvious thing you get is speed. The courts are slow but things are usually turned around quickly in a solicitors office as the divorce process is easy *when you know how*.

If you mess up the divorce petition it becomes a headache very quickly. If you have to amend a petition an additional court fee may be required and there will be delays at the court. If you have to dismiss a petition and start again another £550 will be required.

However, as wyspecial says, it is possible to do it yourself, particularly with guidance from this site. If your spouse agrees with the divorce, it should be straightforward.

Charles