What are my divorce options?
Depending on your relationship with your former partner and the complexity of your situation, there are different ways of managing the legal process of your divorce.
Do-it-yourself: talking with each other and finding the solutions
This approach is the cheapest but it doesn’t suit everyone. It is more suitable for couples whose situation is straightforward, who have been separated for over two years, and who don’t have children or own their own property.
There is some paperwork to do which can seem a bit complicated, but we can go through this with you
How we can help.
- A Divorce Coach or Family Consultant can facilitate a conversation between you and your former partner to help you make your plans, and take you through the separation / divorce process step-by-step.
- We can introduce you to a Solicitor who can give you legal advice to make sure your proposals make sense, and then help you implement them.
Family Mediation
You will together meet with a Mediator who will help you talk through the issues you need to resolve in order to come to agreements. These usually concern living arrangements, children, and money issues. The Mediator will not tell you what to do or give you advice. Some Mediators are also Family Lawyers, so they are able to draw on their experience and understand the kind of agreements that the court will accept.
I was very confused as to who to talk to first and which process to use for my divorce last year. The information and guidance you gave us enabled us both to feel we were able to make the best decision for ourselves and our grown up children. We were comfortable with the collaborative process and it ensured we kept talking to each other through the difficult times.
The agreements you come to are not legally binding, but your Mediator will write them up and you can then send them to your Solicitor, so that he/she can look them over and offer any further legal advice.
Mediation may not suit everyone; to find out more whether it would be the right approach for you, call us.
How we can help.
- You and your former partner can meet with a Divorce Coach or Family Consultant to help you prepare for the mediation process.
- Your Divorce Coach or Family Consultant can come with you and co-facilitate your mediation sessions.
- We can introduce you to a local Solicitor who can check your agreement and send it to the court to make it legally binding.
Collaborative Practice
This is an approach whereby you and your former partner will both have your Solicitors present in the room to help you come to an agreement. You control the process, and this ensures it goes at your pace and follows your agenda. There is also the opportunity to involve a Family Consultant or a Financial Specialist in the process.
This process may take a couple of meetings or longer, depending on how complicated the arrangements are.
The Solicitors who agree to work with you in this way are committed to sorting things out through discussion and are not able to act for you in the unlikely event that the process breaks down and you decide to go to court.
Collaborative Practice may not suit everyone; to find out whether it would be the right approach for you, call us.
How we can help.
- We can meet with you individually or as a couple to prepare for Collaborative Practice.
- We can work alongside you in the meetings with you Solicitors to ensure that the children stay central to the planning process, and help you come to terms with strong feelings when they stop you from moving forward.
- We can introduce you to local, collaboratively trained Solicitors who have experience of working well together, to ensure the process is as seamless as possible.
We can meet with you as a couple and help you prepare and discuss your Anchor Statement and the grounds for divorce ready for the Collaborative Process.
Solicitor negotiation, or round-the-table discussion
Solicitors may write or telephone each other, or you may also have a round-the- table meeting at which you and your Solicitors discuss the next steps together and come to agreements.
Solicitor negotiation may not suit everyone; to find out whether it would be the right approach for you, call us.
How we can help.
- We can help you prepare you for the process so that it takes as little time as possible.
- We can sit alongside you at the round-table meetings to help the discussion move forward, and address any stumbling blocks.
Family Arbitration
Going to Arbitration is a bit like appointing a private judge of your choosing. This approach is used when agreements cannot be reached or the situation is very complicated. The Arbitrator will gather information from you, take both of your views into consideration, and then make a ruling. This is a process that you both need to agree on, and from which neither of you can back out without the other’s agreement.
How we can help.
- We can help prepare you for Arbitration, by identifying the issues that you both agree on and those that you don’t.
- We can introduce you to a Family Arbitrator from ifla.org.uk
Going to court
For some people going to court will be the right option. If you cannot agree on a way forward, and the relationship is so strained that discussion is not possible, court may be the only route for you.
Often couples want to avoid further conflict, higher costs and an outcome with which neither of the couple may agree. It is possible to come to an agreement before the final hearing if both of you are willing to talk things through.
How we can help.
- We can work with you individually to support you through the court process.
- If you both decide you would like to try and find an agreement outside court we can facilitate a conversation between you both.