Our divorce lawyers are here to help
The breakdown of a marriage or relationship is a difficult experience for all involved. Whether you are the one who has made the decision to end the marriage; your partner has told you they would like to separate or you come to a joint decision to divorce, you will likely be dealing with conflicting emotions and have a range of concerns and questions.
You will no doubt want to minimise the pain and stress caused and focus on finding the best outcome for you and your family, especially any children involved. You may also have concerns about protecting your assets or ensuring you receive your fair share in the divorce.
If you are separating without being married or in a civil partnership, you may also have questions over your legal rights, especially in terms of financial support and arrangements for children.
Why a good divorce lawyer can make the process easier
Our expert divorce lawyers always try to take a collaborative approach and never lose sight of the long-term interests of both the adults and children involved. We help guide you through the whole process, offering practical, straight forward advice on all aspects of divorce and separation, including:
Our support does not end once any divorce and accompanying child and financial arrangements have been agreed. We also regularly assist clients with post-divorce issues such as:
- Non payment of financial orders
- Changes to child arrangement orders
- Dealing with new relationships and their impact on financial and child arrangements
Wherever possible we will try and help you resolve issues without the need to go to the family court, through the use of mediation and collaborative law. However, in some cases it is necessary to make use of the family courts to resolve issues and we have extensive experience of guiding clients through this process, as well as strong relationships with specialist family law barristers.
What are the stages of divorce?
The divorce itself is only one aspect in the process of ending a marriage or civil partnership. There are generally three strands to consider, which are handled independently of each other and can be finalised at differing times. These are the divorce, child arrangements and financial settlements.
On 6 April 2022 the new law in relation to divorce came into effect, which enables couples to divorce without attributing blame. What are the key changes with no fault divorce?
The language used is being update:
- ‘Decree Nisi’ will become a ‘Conditional Order’
- ‘Decree Absolute’ will become a ‘Final Order’
- ‘Petitioner’ (the person submitting the application) will become the ‘applicant’
- It will no longer be possible to base an application for divorce on adultery or unreasonable behaviour.
- Couples will no longer have to be separated for a minimum period of time to apply for a divorce without attributing blame.
- All divorce applications will be based on the statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
- There is no need for the applicant to provide any reasons to explain why the marriage has broken down.
- The statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably cannot be contested by the other party, so there will be very few cases where an application for divorce can be challenged.
- Couples can make a joint application for divorce if they choose to.
- There is no automatic option for the party applying for a divorce to claim the costs of that process from the other party, although they can still make a separate application to the court for this in appropriate cases.
- Applicants will have to wait at least 20 weeks from the date that the divorce application is issued before they can apply for a conditional order and they will have to wait a further 6 weeks from the date of the conditional order before they can apply for a final order. This means that the divorce process will take at least 26 weeks from the date that the application is issued, and probably slightly longer than that.
How long does divorce take?
Under the newly enacted Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which came into force on 6 April 2022, a divorce is likely to take approximately 6 – 8 months. This estimated timescale can vary depending on for example, the level of co-operation from the respondent (the non-petitioning spouse), concluding financial arrangements and more increasingly, delays caused by the courts. This timescale is in respect of the divorce suit only. It usually takes much longer to conclude a financial settlement and to resolve disputes relating to children issues.
How much does a dirvoce cost?
The fee for an online divorce is currently £593. If one instructs solicitors to represent them, their fees (exclusive of the court fee of £593) are likely to be in the region of £700 - £1,000, plus VAT.
The costs involved in negotiating a financial settlement, and/or concluding child arrangements will be significantly more.
How to apply for divorce?
If you wish to file an online divorce petition without instructing a solicitor, you can use the government website www.gov.uk. Alternatively use our live chat facility or phone 0892 510000 to speak to someone about how you would like to move forward.
How can a lawyer help me through my divorce?
At Thomson Snell & Passmore, we truly value our clients and the support we can provide to you, which is why we make it our mission to ensure you are completely satisfied with our services. Your divorce lawyer will not only offer professional legal support, but will handle your wishes and intentions with compassion and respect. We appreciate this is not an easy time for you or your family and will do our best to alleviate any stress and help you through this time.
With offices in Tunbridge Wells and Thames Gateway we regularly help high net worth individuals, business owners and individuals who are based in, or work in, London. Our experienced team of divorce lawyers have the structure and experience to deal with the most complex of situations for our clients.
Please get in touch with our expert team if we can help in any way. We have also put together a divorce support hub, where we answer many common questions about the divorce process.
