Family & Divorce Law

In order to divorce in England and Wales, parties must have been married for at least one year. In the event that you have been married for less than one year but you wish to formally record your separation and any agreement you have reached in relation to your finances, one option is to enter into a Separation Agreement which can remain in place until such time as you can divorce.

Yes. Same-sex couples can obtain a no-fault divorce in the same way as heterosexual couples.

At the meeting we will run through your assets and explain to you what further financial disclosure you might need to be able to make an informed decision about settlement. For example, this might include property valuations where a property value is in dispute; an independent accountancy report if there are business assets which are disputed or a pension sharing report to understand the pensions and how they might be divided between you. We will also explain what factors the court will take into consideration if the court was being asked to make a decision and the various orders that can be made. We will also run through the various options available to you and your spouse/civil partner to reach a financial settlement. Insofar as possible, we will work with you to negotiate a financial settlement with your spouse or their solicitor without the need to attend court. We take a pragmatic, realistic and commercial approach to settlement for all of our clients. Where court proceedings become necessary, however, our team are able to advise effectively on the strategy to ensure a fair outcome for you. We can also discuss with you alternative options to dispute resolution.

In most cases, you will have to ask a judge’s permission to appeal. The judge will only grant this permission if they think the appeal has a real chance of succeeding or in family proceedings, there is some other valid reason for your appeal to be heard. If you are considering making an appeal, we would recommend that you seek independent legal advice from a family law solicitor.

If you would like to protect an inheritance, you may wish to consider entering into a nuptial agreement (a pre-nuptial agreement and/or a post-nuptial agreement). This would not prevent the court from making an order on divorce that your inheritance be shared (where needs required it) but would strengthen your case against sharing. If you do not want to share your inherited capital, it will be crucial that you do not mingle it with matrimonial assets. For example, do not use it to reduce the mortgage on a jointly owned property or to pay off joint debt. Keep it separate. And if you do invest it in joint or otherwise matrimonial assets, obtain written agreement from your spouse that they acknowledge that they have no interest in the inheritance. However, even with such an agreement, the court will retain the ultimate decision-making power as to what is to become of it on divorce. If you expect to inherit money or assets in the future, you may also wish to consider appropriate trust planning.