Me and my wife had reached an agreement regarding our divorce. My wife went to see the mediator (win-win solution) and divorce lawyer Ines to make this agreement legally binding.

Ines then convinced my wife that I owed my wife over 40k eur in maintenance and zugewinn for a 2,5 years marriage where on top of things my wife walked away with all our savings from the final year of marriage.

I called Ines to discuss how she had calculated to reach this fantasy figure. She was unable to answer the question and even though she is supposed to be able to handle international divorces I was unable to speak English with her and I had to speak in German. Even so I received no answer on how the fantasy figure had been calculated.

Based on Ines involvement in the divorce it took two years to finalise it and ~30k in lawyer costs (~15k each). I ended up paying 10k in maintenance during this period and my wife owed me 3k in zugewinn stocksmarkets -16%. Pensions excluded.

The deal my wife and I had initially and friendly made was for me to pay her 10k and all court and legal costs.

So Ines created two years of pain, my ex-wife refused all communication unless it went via her lawyer, 30k to her fellow lawyers (my wife left her early on) and my wife ended up with -10k (compared to our initially agreed +10k) and I with -25k (compared to estimated -17k)

Where was the mediation and win-win that Ines promise on her home page? How can a mediator turn a friendly relationship into hostile?

Shameful!

Is my now ex-wife to blame for this? Probably, since she never had a financial head on her shoulders but facts remain that my ex-wife went to Ines with our agreement and went there representing both of us in the discussion and after speaking to Ines and without the mediator Ines even talking to me the figure over 40k was communicated from my ex-wife to me. So no matter how it happened it is shameful behaviour of a person claiming to be a mediator.

I’m deeply disappointed in Ines which I hope I’ve managed to convey with this review.