Leading personal finance website The Penny Hoarder recently published eleven low-cost divorce tips in an articled titled Getting Divorced? It Doesn’t Have to Cost a Fortune.

The author notes that the average cost of a divorce in the U.S is $12,900, with many divorces costing much more.

The article includes eleven pieces of advice from divorce attorneys on how to keep the price of divorce as low as you can.

The number one piece of advice?: “Use a mediator instead of an attorney.”

Here is how the article makes the case for divorce mediation: “[E]ven contentious divorces don’t necessarily need attorneys, says Dori Shwirtz, an attorney who practices marital and divorce mediation….”

Shwirtz continues: “Oftentimes, the agreement they come to would be the same conclusion that would be reached after years of an attorney-centered battle in court anyway…..”

The other ten pieces of cost-saving advice?:

(2) Look for free and reduced-fee legal representation programs.

(3) Get organized with your financial information.

(4) Do your homework and obtain needed information.

(5) Don’t treat your attorney like a therapist.

(6) Make a list of your questions and get them all asked at one time.

(7) Put documents in order and add page numbers.

(8) Be on time.

(9) Speak with your lawyer about your budget.

(10) Try to be agreeable with your spouse when you can.

(11) Be as reasonable as you can with routine parts of negotiations.

The full article is available here.

And the quickest and easiest way to find a qualified mediator for your divorce is to submit a mediator match request at Mediator Connect.