The price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com has announced plans to add legal business to its online portfolio, which in these internet-driven, credit crunch days seems like a jolly good idea. Shopping around online for the best deal on products and services is obviously the way to go in the 21st century.

Or is it? While it's one thing to buy a cut price utility service via the computer - utility companies provide more or less the same service - it is quite another to buy the expertise of a solicitor purely on the basis of how cheap the bill is likely to be.

This is especially true of niche services such as matrimonial and family law. Unlike some legal areas, divorce and family matters are often extremely complicated and few matrimonial cases require little more than rubber stamping.

So unless you choose your lawyer carefully, you risk coming out of the process with a lower financial settlement and inferior child arrangements than you might otherwise have done.

What's more, divorce is probably the most traumatic of all legal processes, so it is crucial to choose a lawyer who will support you emotionally as well as fighting your corner in the courts.

Such a lawyer is unlikely to be found at a general high street practice, but rather within a specialist family law firm, and - unsurprisingly - such a lawyer will charge more than the high street practice.

There are many instances, in all kinds of consumer areas, where bargain hunting doesn't pay off. If you pay peanuts, expect to get a monkey!

If, on the other hand, you want a quality service - which is particularly important in the delicate yet thorny area of divorce and family matters - you have to be prepared to pay for it. Cutting corners, cost wise, isn't the best way to get the best settlement in the long term.

So while including legal services on Moneysupermarket.com may have a - limited - use in relation to process-driven matters, it's unlikely to be helpful when choosing a solicitor in all but the most straightforward divorce. It is also wise to bear in mind that because divorce issues are often complicated, even if you do go for the "cheapest" option, your bill at the end may bear little relation to the quote you were given at the beginning. Dedicated family lawyers know this and, as a result, will give you a realistic idea of the costs involved.