Family

It is frequently said that if you are buying goods or services “you get what you pay for”.  Recently that has proved to be particularly true for 28 people who thought they could save money by using a cheap “online provider” to do their divorce.

In a recent case report headed “Improper Petitions”, the Family Court struck out 28 divorce petitions. All of the 28 petitions had been prepared by an unregulated online service. The Court became suspicious about the petitions because they had all used identical wording to describe allegations of unreasonable behaviour.  Although the person behind the online company apologised to the Court and stated it had been a mistake, 28 people who thought that they had put their divorces into the hands of a reputable service will have found themselves all having to start over which means extra costs and delays for their divorces.

Hopefully, the provider of this online divorce service will give some kind of compensation to the people it failed, but unlike a Solicitor’s Practice which must follow the rules and keep to the standards set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and carry substantial professional indemnity insurance, such an online divorce service is not regulated and does not have to be insured, so anyone choosing to use it is not guaranteed to receive proper service or be paid any compensation if something goes wrong.

At Harold Stock & Co Solicitors we offer a free of charge, untimed initial meeting with a family law specialist. There is no obligation to instruct us following this meeting. We will outline the options available to you and also discuss the costs involved in the matter.

We offer a Fixed Fee Divorce Service. If you are issuing divorce proceedings, our cost will be £600.00 plus VAT plus the Court Fee (currently £593.00). If you are the Respondent in divorce proceedings, our cost will be £300.00 plus VAT.

For all other areas of family law, including financial proceedings, we charge a competitive hourly rate. There are no hidden costs and you will receive regular invoices and full breakdowns of the work undertaken by us in order to help you to manage the costs of your case.

Our family law department is led by Chris Bowen who specialises in Family Law – the legal aspects of family and relationship breakdown. This covers divorce, matrimonial finance, disputes between cohabitees, disputes about arrangements for children, and extends to pre-nuptial and cohabitation agreements etc. Chris has substantial experience in this field. He is a member of the Resolution, the largest membership organisation for family justice professionals in England and Wales whose code of practice insists upon a conciliatory approach to resolving issues on the breakdown of a relationship. He is also trained as a Collaborative Family Lawyer and is a keen supporter of this process.

To get in touch with Chris, email him at cb@haroldstock.com or call 01457 835597.

Following the breakdown of the marriage, there are usually a number of financial issues to be resolved. Understandably, most often a separating couple concentrate on things like the future of the family home, and how any children of the family will be supported. However, this leaves out a major part of the matrimonial “pot” which are pensions.

For over 20 years, in England and Wales, it has been possible to split pensions on divorce, but recently published research from Manchester University and the Pensions Policy Institute seems to suggest that all too often, pensions are either ignored or not split fairly by couples during a divorce.

Many people appear not to understand the significance and importance of having pensions in place for later life and most do not realise the true value of their pensions which can often be greater than the value of their house.  The researchers found that in many cases, it was still the male breadwinner who had the better pension provision and that men become emotionally attached to their pension assets. As a result, when it comes to divorce, women are far more likely to prioritise keeping the family home whilst men are more focused on keeping their pension. These findings suggest that a wife who was the main carer of children would prefer to keep the family home, believing this to be the ‘better deal’.

Often, that is not the case. The difficulty that this causes is that even the increase in the value of the house will not provide enough capital to provide a decent pension when the time comes to retire, so you could be left with a mortgage free home but unable to afford to live in it because your pension is not enough.

The conclusion that Family Lawyers have drawn from this research is that divorcing couples need to be helped to have a better understanding of the importance and value of their pensions so that they can make an informed choice that combines securing them both a home, with ensuring that they have some pension income in retirement.

If you are about to separate or divorce, make sure you get proper advice that takes into account pensions and the impact they can have upon your future financial security.

At Harold Stock & Co Solicitors we offer a free of charge, untimed initial meeting with a family law specialist. There is no obligation to instruct us following this meeting. We will outline the options available to you and also discuss the costs involved in the matter. To get in touch with Chris Bowen, who specialises in Family Law – the legal aspects of family and relationship breakdown, email him at cb@haroldstock.com or call 01457 835597.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which passed into law on 25 June 2020, brings “no fault” divorce to England and Wales for the first time.  We now know that it will come into force on 6 April 2022, so what does it mean if you are contemplating divorce now?

Current divorce law – in force until 5 April 2022

Under the current law, unless you are prepared to wait for at least two years (if both parties consent to the divorce) or five years (if one party does not consent to the divorce) there is no way for couples to start the divorce proceedings without one of them blaming the other.  To obtain what the tabloids like to refer to as a “quickie divorce”, any one seeking a divorce has to blame the other to prove that their marriage has irretrievably broken down. The available facts are:-

• One spouse has committed adultery and the other finds it intolerable to live with them; or

• One spouse has behaved in such a way that the other cannot reasonably be expected to continue to live with them.

The other blame-based fact is that one spouse has deserted the other for a period of at least two years. However, that is almost unheard of and anyway, it still involves a 2 year wait.

The current system also allows spouses to defend the divorce or cross-petition. Although this is very rare, it leads to court hearings, significant delays and significant costs.

Even though the reasons for the breakdown of the marriage are only of interest to the parties and make no difference to financial outcomes or anything which we lawyers view as relevant, this element of painting one of the spouses as responsible for the breakdown can become a major point of conflict for the couple, and often leads to friction when they try to sort out the other more important issues which arise when a marriage fails, such as the arrangements for their children or how they divide their assets. This often leads to widening of existing divisions and can be an obstacle to having a good relationship after divorce, which is particularly important where a couple have children and need to continue their parenting obligations long after they part.

The new divorce law

From next April, spouses will be able to apply for a “Divorce Order”. This will dissolve the marriage on the ground that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Importantly, neither spouse will have to demonstrate the irretrievable breakdown by relying on one of the old blame-based facts. Under the new system, the parties need only send a statement to the court which will be treated as conclusive evidence of the irretrievable breakdown. It will still be possible for just one of the spouses to apply for a divorce, however, the new legislation will permit couples to jointly apply to the court for a divorce and separate as amicably as possible, and without apportioning blame.

The new divorce procedure

The new divorce procedure has been simplified and the previous old fashioned legal language has been modernised, making it easier to understand the process from the outset. The process will still involve the two stages of Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute. However “Decree Nisi” will become a “Conditional Order” of divorce and “Decree Absolute” will become a “Final Order” of divorce.

Further, the new legislation also removes the ability for one spouse to contest the divorce.

These changes should reduce the conflict and stress which the breakdown can cause, and will hopefully make the process simpler.

New timescales for the divorce procedure

A new minimum time period of 20 weeks will be introduced. This means that 20 weeks must elapse from when the divorce application is filed with the court, before parties can apply for a Conditional Order. The purpose of this window is to allow spouses a period of “meaningful reflection”. If, after the spouses have reflected, they still wish to progress the divorce, they must confirm this to the Court when they apply for a Conditional Order. The Conditional Order will not be made final until at least six weeks have passed. Therefore, in theory, the whole process could take 26 weeks. This is unlike the current process where there is no minimum period, but realistically the volumes of cases that the Court processes mean a substantial wait for even the most straightforward divorce to go through. Unless the Court systems are efficient and staffing levels improve, even the new simplified process may well take longer than the 26 week minimum.

It is possible to apply to shorten the timescales in exceptional circumstances. By the same token, the spouses may also delay an application to make the Conditional Order into a Final Order, if the spouses are still resolving the financial aspects of the divorce.

What next?

Although the new law has been passed and we know when it will come into force, the nuts and bolts of the new system have still to be worked out. Forms, procedures, and court IT systems still need to be created to enable the changes to start working. It will be a learning curve for everyone working in divorce!

Our prediction is that anyone who wants to get on with their divorce now will probably proceed under the current fault-based system, but anyone who is recently separated and had planned to wait for the 2 years of separation to pass will now be able to start their divorce next April, possibly much sooner than they had originally thought.

Remember however, that getting divorced is just the tip of the iceberg; your status will change so that you are no longer married, but in itself it will do nothing to sort out the much more significant things which arise when a marriage fails – such as working out the arrangements for any children and deciding how the assets of the marriage should be shared. Those issues will require just as much careful consideration as they do now.

For further information contact us on 0330 400 4040 or visit our website: www.haroldstock.com