Divorce Lawyers: Specialist  Solicitors for Divorce

If there are also finances to deal with as part of the divorce, mediation is a suitable way for most couples to deal with matrimonial finances and financial settlements without going to court.

In most cases, the family court will want to see that you have at least attempted to make amicable decisions about your finances through the process of mediation.

As a minimum, it is likely that you will have to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM).  This meeting is held between the divorcing couple and a professional mediator and is essential to decide whether mediation is a suitable route for you to take. Divorce mediation is not legally binding, but can serve as a basis for an agreement regarding your divorce which can be enforced by the court.

If it is clear that the relationship between the two of you is so acrimonious that mediation is unlikely to help you resolve your disputes, you do not have to go ahead with it.

It is very unlikely that you will have to attend court to obtain a divorce. You may need to go to court in relation to the matrimonial finances if an informal agreement can be reached or by using other methods such as negotiations through solicitors or at mediation.

Our solicitors are very experienced in helping clients reach a resolution in a collaborative way.  When this can be done, there is no need to go to court and costs and stress are minimised.

For financial agreements, it is worthwhile obtaining approval from the court to ensure it's both legal and fair to both parties, but you will not normally need to attend.

If an agreement can’t be reached and an application for financial provision is made to the court, we will continue to work on finding an amicable resolution.  We often achieve this before the final hearing and before a decision from the judge is necessary.

As with most legal procedures, a lot depends on individual circumstances and the behaviour of the people involved.  There is no definitive time frame for a divorce but it typically takes between five and eight months if both parties agree.

Parents usually make decisions about child arrangements themselves.  There are usually no objections from the courts. The law puts the best interests of the children first.

What many people refer to as custody and access are known by the courts as Child Arrangements. In the event that you are unable to come to an agreement with regard to Child Arrangements. You are able to go through mediation or, as a last resort, through the court. The Court will make the decision for you in a document called the Child Arrangement Order. Such a court order will dictate where the child lives and outline how much time the child is to spend with each parent.

There is clearly a lot to think about. Where will the children live? How much contact will they have with their other parent? Where will they spend the school holidays? What does the child want?

This will all be decided in the child’s best interests taking account of all the emotional, physical and educational needs of the child alongside the capability of each parent and the characteristics of the child.

Both parents are responsible for the living costs of a child until the child reaches the age of 16 or the age of 20 if they remain in full-time education.

If you are able to reach an agreement on financial matters between yourselves, no one else has to be involved at all. This keeps things flexible allowing changes to be made over time.  There are all sorts of ways of sharing the financial responsibility of raising the children so it's a case of figuring out what works best for you.

The Child Maintenance Service sets the formula for calculating maintenance payments in the UK.  It is based on the paying parent’s income up to a maximum of £156,000 of earnings in a year.

It can sometimes be difficult to work out maintenance payments using this formula, especially where the paying parent is self-employed or their income is complicated.

If you can’t agree on how child arrangement payments between you, the Child Maintenance Service will intervene and work out the figure for you.

What happens to the family home is one of the biggest decisions divorcing couples have to make.

Where children are involved as well, the need to minimise any disruption to them, and to their school life, in particular, should be at the forefront of your mind.

In some cases, both parents move out and the proceeds of the sale are split.  In other cases, one side buys the other out.

Sometimes the time isn’t right to make either of those two moves right away, so both parties continue to have shared ownership of the property and other financial arrangements are made for the short to medium term.

A lot depends on your individual circumstances and our solicitors will be able to advise you in more detail.

We undertake a fixed fee for divorces with are as follows:

If we are acting on behalf of the person who initiates the Divorce proceedings (the Petitioner), we charge a fixed fee of £700 + VAT. There is also a court fee of £612.

If we are acting on behalf of the person who received the Divorce proceedings (the Respondent)  we charge a fixed fee of £400 + VAT.

If we are also instructed in the financial aspect, there will be further fees which will depend on your individual circumstances and your solicitor will be able to advise you regarding this.

Many people are unaware that a divorce does not stop all financial obligations between spouses.

Unless you obtain a Clean Break Order from the Court, it is possible for your ex-spouse to make a financial claim against you at any time in the future.

A Clean Break Order is a step we always advise our clients to take if the circumstances of your marriage were such that the order is likely to be approved.

Visit our page on clean break divorces to find out more about this.