Clients often say that they want to be reasonable in reaching a settlement and don’t want to end up in court and waste money on lawyers. They ask, ‘What is the best way to divorce?’
Obviously, the best way, is if the parties can reach agreement ‘across the kitchen table’, but not many people are able to do that.
If the ‘kitchen table’ route doesn’t work then, in our view, the next best way is mediation (where the parties appoint a third party, a mediator, to help them reach a settlement.
However, other divorce processes are also available but so often people are unaware of or not informed that there are alternatives.
We mention three of those alternative processes here but please note that there are others
- Collaborative Law (involving round table meetings to agree matters or at least narrow the issues in dispute), or
- An Early Neutral Evaluation (a barrister advising both parties on how the matter is likely be settled if it came to court, thereby enabling the parties to take a view on the outcome and avoid having a lengthy and costly dispute in finding that out), or
- Direct Access (where, as mentioned in our June bulletin, you avoid the duplication and expense of having both a solicitor and a barrister and just have a barrister to advise and represent you).
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, consider the alternative processes, and stop them making expensive mistakes. We use our experience of the divorce process to look at the options and 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.