I tapered down - 1000 mg, 750 mg, 500 mg, 250 mg, stop. No withdrawal. I had hand tremor on Depakote that was very bad. It finally went away, but not right when I discontinued this drug. It took many more weeks for tremor to disappear. I was very much afraid that it would stay with me as a tardive side effect.

Note that I tapered down not because I was trying to be careful, but because I hoped to be able to stay on a lower dose for migraine prevention. It did not happen because I still had tremor at the migraine prevention dose (500mg) and even at half of that (the lowest dose Depakote comes in).

But in the end I ended up tapering down without any withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately, the weight gain did not go away.

I think that going down by 250 mg a week would be safe and speedy enough.