The most complex aspect of any
divorce or separation is sorting out the finances.
Most divorce lawyers will spend most of their time sorting out financial settlements on divorce.
Now, to enable us to advise you
about potential settlement for you
we need to get a full picture your
finances
and if you can get that to us at the first meeting,
or at an early stage of your divorce, we can help
you and we can give you a realistic advice.
Now, what we like to achieve for people
is agreeing a settlement,
keeping it out of court,
avoiding significant legal costs and
helping you to get a good result.
So, a good way to do that is negotiations through solicitors.
We will negotiate on your behalf.
We will help you get a good settlement.
Another approach is mediation, which is where you and your spouse will meet face to face
with the help of a mediator, and they'll
help you work out a settlement.
But we will be there in the
background. We can advise you in between meetings.
Another approach is collaborative law.
There is a separate video on the website advising you about what collaborative law means.
Now in terms of what the financial settlement will be
there are some very broad principles, under English law there is not one size that fits all.
The idea is that every marriage is unique, therefore, the law can be adapted to each and every couple
but there are some general
principles,
so for example, after a long marriage
the starting point might be to divide everything equally.
After a short marriage that
probably isn't appropriate.
So, we need to know more about your
position before we can give you some accurate advice
but it is a very, very complicated area.
