Lawson-West - your legal partner for life

Divorce Settlement

How Long Divorce Takes

The divorce procedure itself takes about 4 to 5 months from when you issue your petition.

If you are going to use the adultery or the unreasonable behaviour of your husband or wife as the fact that proves irretrievable breakdown, you can issue your petition straight away.

If you are going to use desertion, or separation with the other side's consent, you will have to wait until 2 years has passed since the date you last lived together, before you can issue your petition.

If you have been trying to reconcile for a period of time up to 6 months (or several periods of time which add up to less than 6 months) you can still use the original date of desertion or separation as the beginning of your two year period. However if the attempted reconciliation lasts longer than 6 months you have to start counting your 2 years again before you can issue your petition.

If you have no other reason available to you except separation, and the other side does not consent, you must wait for 5 years before you issue the petition.

Your Right to Privacy

Divorce proceedings are private. The details in the petition will not be published. But you will have to set out in your petition the reason for the breakdown for your marriage.

It may be that you want to divorce without laying any blame, but you can't do that until you have been separated for two years. If you want to divorce sooner than that, you will have to use either adultery or unreasonable behaviour. These are the two facts that the press call 'quickie divorces'.

It is not that they are any quicker to deal with, it is just that they do not have a time requirement before you can start. The details you plead in such a petition must necessarily lay the blame for the breakdown of your marriage on the other side, and the other side will read it. So the matter is essentially contentious.

We would advise that you keep the particulars as brief as possible, while still setting out clearly why you feel the marriage has broken down. If you have children, you should try and keep alive the possibility of an on-going relationship with your spouse as parents to your children - for the children's own sakes.

How Much Does a Divorce Cost?

The divorce process itself carries two areas of expense; the court fees and your solicitor's bill.

In a straightforward divorce the court fees total £340, plus a fee to another solicitor to swear your affidavit, which is usually £7 or £9.

Your own solicitor's bill will be calculated on how much time he or she spends on your case. If the matter is simple, and just goes through its stages without unexpected problems arising, it generally takes about 3 hours of your solicitor's time altogether.

There is a basic truth you must always bear in mind - arguing costs money. If you are completely unable to discuss details with your wife or husband, it will cost you money to argue about these things through your solicitor.

The costs in related matters to do with the children, or your financial circumstances are extremely difficult to predict. It depends on how complicated things are, and how much the two of you argue about things. Again, this is a basic truth you cannot afford to ignore.

As matters progress, and it becomes clearer how complicated or contentious the matter is, it will become easier to give you a more accurate estimate of the likely costs. Costs will be calculated on how much time is spent on the matter, whether that is:

• meeting with you
• considering information & options
• preparing documents
• writing letters
• telephoning or receiving calls
• appearing for you in court
• meeting witnesses to take statements

We will send you an interim bill every month, so that you will know as the matter goes on how much it is costing, and you will better able to budget your own finances to pay the interim bills as they come up.

Remember that your legal costs are legitimate expenses, and you are perfectly entitled to include them in your list of outgoings when we deal with financial matters.

Who Keeps the House?

This depends on several different considerations, the most important of which is children.

If you have minor children living with you when you divorce, the court will not let you finish the divorce until it is satisfied that the arrangements for the children have been settled in the best way available for them. The fact that the marriage is over, and Mum and Dad will not be living together with the children any more, is quite enough for the children to cope with, without having to move from the home they know, and the school and the friends they know, as well.

If it is possible in practical terms for the children to continue to live in their home with one or other of their parents, that will probably be seen as the least damaging for them in the circumstances.

If the house is jointly owned by the parents, it may not be possible for the parent who leaves to have any capital out of the house until the children finish school. Depending on whether both parents are in paid employment, and how much the house is worth, and how much is secured on the house in a mortgage, we will try and find the most practical way to sort these problems out.

That may include one of you buying the share of the other, if the building society will agree, or an agreement that the house should be sold at a later date, when the children no longer need it as a home.

Every case is unique, and we will explore all the available options, and find the one that is best for you in your particular circumstances.

The Impact on Your Pension

This is a complicated issue, which requires careful consideration. There are so many factors involved, that it is not possible to give you a simple answer here. The sort of things that affect this question are:

How long have you been married?

In very broad terms, the longer the marriage, the more likely it is that pension funds will have to be used to achieve a fair settlement.

How old are you?

If it is your pension fund that is going to be in question, then the older you are, the more likely it is to be a feature in a fair solution.

If it is your husband's or your wife's pension fund that must be considered, your own age will be important on the question of whether you have time to build up a pension fund of your own.

Have you got a pension each?

If you have both got some pension provision, it might be easier to settle a fair and balanced agreement without disturbing either fund.

What are your comparative earnings now?

If you are both earning about the same amount per year, and you have time to invest in future security, it may not be necessary to disturb any of the pension arrangements.

What is your potential for building up pensions from now on?

If you have sufficient salary to enable you to build up your own pension fund, you may not need any of your husband's or wife's pension fund to achieve a fair settlement.

If you are the one who has a large pension to look forward to, and you also have a high salary now, it may be appropriate to transfer part of the fund to your husband or wife who has much less in security for the future.

What are your immediate needs?

If your spouse is on a lower salary, and has urgent need of capital for accommodation, it may be better to agree to him or her having a greater share of the available assets now to provide a home.

It may be better to agree to an arrangement like this, and keep your pension fund intact, rather than splitting each financial item between you, including your pension fund.

Are there assets which could be set off against pension entitlement?

As a very simple example, if you have just two assets, a house and a pension fund, of about the same value, you might find you can agree to the person with lower pay and urgent needs having the house, and the other keeping the pension fund.

This is called setting off.

It is almost always possible to negotiate an agreement where one partner has certain assets and the other partner has certain others. This can avoid disturbing investments unnecessarily, and losing the best results from them (which is usually to let them run to term).

We are always willing to discuss each individual situation. Please phone Janet Hopkins on 01858 445480 or James Haworth on 0116 212 1080 to arrange a free initial appointment.