Category: latest news

Earlier this year (see our April bulletin), we drew attention to some
really excellent resources that are freely available to people who don’t know where to turn when faced with divorce.

In this month’s newsletter, we would like to highlight that most people’s notion of domestic abuse is that there has been some physical abuse. However, since October 2021, economic abuse has been included in the definition of abuse in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Economic abuse occurs when one partner has control over the other
partner’s access to economic resources, which diminishes the
victim’s capacity to support themselves and forces them to depend on the perpetrator financially.

It also includes the control of someone’s present or future earning
potential by preventing them from obtaining a job or education. In either of the above cases, often people are not aware of their rights.

We are a team of 5 experienced lawyers but, what makes us different to a firm of solicitors, is that we are acting as divorce consultants. We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

If the above resonates or you know someone who may benefit from speaking to us, please do contact me. We don’t charge for an initial consultation.

In our opinion the best way to divorce is for the divorcing couple to agree everything ‘across the kitchen table’.

But we appreciate that not many people are able to do that and, although mediation is often then next best alternative, it doesn’t
work for everyone.

The normal route of instructing both a solicitor and a barrister is hugely expensive so what’s left?

One option, and there are others, is where a little-known process called ‘Direct Access’ is available: With Direct Access, instead of involving both a solicitor and a barrister, you only have a barrister.

This is revolutionising the way individuals navigate their legal matters with efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

By eliminating the duplication of having both a solicitor and a
barrister, and with barrister’s charges generally being cheaper than solicitors, Direct Access offers significant cost savings, ensuring that financial resources can be allocated where they are most needed, such as supporting children or rebuilding lives post-divorce.

At Divorce Solutions, we look at all the alternative ways of dealing with disputes and, wherever possible favour the barrister only, Direct Access, route.

We have found that the direct engagement with barristers promotes transparency and empowers individuals to actively participate in their own legal strategy, fostering a sense of control and confidence throughout the divorce journey.

We are a team of 5 experienced lawyers but, what makes us different to a firm of solicitors, is that we are acting as divorce consultants. We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

Acutely aware that people often don’t know where to turn at this difficult time, this month we would like to draw your attention to some really good resources that are freely available.

1. CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) – https://www.cafcass.gov.uk/grown- ups/parents-and-carers/divorce-and-separation/ provides excellent information to help both parents and children. The information has been assembled with input from therapists, child psychologists, lawyers and other experienced professionals.

2.REFUGE – https://refuge.org.uk/? gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi46iBhDyARIsAE3nVrbOxWKgYjgE TZW1LmEOCax7KOToAPa3leFt2sh9PAt8kYJIwK8iVEMaA o8dEALw_wcB This is a charity providing help and support for women and their children who are experiencing domestic abuse.

3.Law And Parents – www.lawandparents.co.uk offers an information source for parents wishing to learn about their legal responsibilities and their rights in relation to their children.

4.Families Need Fathers – https://fnf.org.uk/ – provides help with shared parenting issues arising from relationship breakdown whether you’re the mum or dad, married or unmarried.

We are a team of 5 experienced lawyers but, what makes us different to a firm of solicitors, is that we are acting as divorce consultants. We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

If the above resonates or you know someone who may benefit from speaking to us, please do contact me. We don’t charge for an initial consultation.

To get on the property ladder, couples are often having to rely on gifts from parents. However, should the couple subsequently divorce, this can result in unintended consequences.

The general position is that, unless at the time the gift is ‘protected’ in some way, in the event of divorce the money involved is likely to be considered as part of the marital assets to be divided between the parties.

However, a gift can be protected either by documenting it as a loan (carrying interest and with a repayment date and other features of a loan), or possibly by the parties entering into a pre-nuptial agreement.

The cost of contested court proceedings at the time of divorce can be very expensive and, in comparison to the cost of court proceedings, the cost of preparing a loan agreement or a pre-nup at the outset is nominal.

We are a team of 5 experienced lawyers but, what makes us different to a firm of solicitors, is that we are acting as divorce consultants. We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

If the above resonates or you know someone who may benefit from speaking to us, please do contact me. We don’t charge for an initial consultation.

When divorcing, people should consider setting up a new email address or, at the very least, changing their password. This particularly applies to communications with their lawyer, therapist, or new partner and avoid using a new password that their other half may be able to guess

They should change the password on bank accounts and social media and consider who to block on social media accounts.

Changing the pin of their phone, switching off ‘Find my Phone’ and stopping sharing calendars are also recommended. Before you decide who gets to keep your shared devices, back up what you want and then factory reset.

Finally, they should log out of sites where they would normally remain logged in and untick ‘remember my password’ options.

Divorce Solutions are a team of 5 experienced lawyers but, what makes us different to a firm of solicitors, is that we are acting as divorce consultants. We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

If the above resonates or you know someone who may benefit from speaking to us, please do contact me. We don’t charge for an initial consultation.

Cohabitation is the fastest growing family type in the UK with almost 4 million couples cohabiting in 2021. However, this is a huge problem as most people mistakenly believe that cohabitation (which some refer to as a common law marriage), gives the same rights as a married couple. This is wrong.

COHABITATION GIVES NO GENERAL LEGAL STATUS

If the cohabiting couple break up, they must rely on the general law to resolve disputes: for example, if not named on the title deeds of their home, such disputes can be difficult and expensive and often result in an unsatisfactory outcome.

A cohabitation agreement setting out what is to happen in the event of a relationship breakdown is a good way of protecting the parties and should always be considered. Such an agreement should include what is to happen to joint property, mortgages & loans, savings and investments etc if the cohabiting relationship ends.

Although it is possible to write your own cohabitation agreement there are pitfalls that need to be avoided so it is sensible to enlist qualified help and to keep the agreement under review in the event of a material change in circumstances.

At Divorce Solutions we help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes

With the head of the family courts estimating that 20% of marriage break- ups are wrongly ending up in court, mediation provides a good cheap and quick way of reaching a divorce settlement.

Wherever possible we encourage mediation, but some parties are naturally nervous about trying a process they don’t understand and where they may feel on the back foot, particularly where the other party is controlling or financially more astute.

We mediate, but even where we are not involved because a third party is mediating, parties have found that it helpful for us to coach them and prepare them for the process and help them formulate a plan to achieve their objectives.

We are a team of non-practicing lawyers acting instead as divorce consultants to help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

As a result of Covid, the wait for a court hearing date is worse than ever so, just like opting for private medicine instead of the NHS, did you know that they can avoid the court backlog by ‘buying’ a private hearing? Whilst not for everyone as, just like private medicine, there is a cost implication, this is just one of the many divorce options that we believe clients should be aware of.

We help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money. We use established but little-known processes some of which do not even involve a solicitor! If you know someone who may benefit from speaking to us, please tell them to contact me. We don’t charge for an initial consultation.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, the head of the family courts, estimated that one fifth of marriage break-ups were wrongly ending up in court. He said parents are fooling themselves if they think children are unaffected.

It seems that many people see the breakdown of their marriage as a legal issue to be decided in court rather than a relationship one.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that there were more than 103,000 divorces in England and Wales in 2020.

At Divorce Solutions we help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money. You may be surprised to hear that now-a days there are processes available to resolve these difficult situations without even involving a solicitor!

The biggest change in the divorce process in almost 50 years came into force earlier this year so that it is no longer necessary for one party to blame the other by alleging unreasonable behaviour or adultery. Now the applicant can merely state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Furthermore, applications for divorce can be made on line at the government website.

However, to be clear, whilst this makes the divorce process easier and can reduce conflict at the start of the process, unfortunately arguments regarding money and children remain as difficult as ever to resolve.

At Divorce Solutions we help people navigate the legal maze and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to find solutions to lower the temperature and save money.

You may be surprised to hear that now-a days there are processes available to resolve these difficult situations without even involving a solicitor!