Splitting up is never easy, but there are ways of making the process of getting divorced, settling finances, and agreeing arrangements for children easier and less painful.

  • Divorce

Since April 2022, when the ‘no fault’ divorce was introduced, you no longer have to blame your former spouse’s behaviour or their adultery to get a divorce, and divorce applications can now be made on a joint basis.

  • Settling financial and child arrangements

Following on from this, we have seen an increase in couples looking for a more amicable, even joint, approach to resolving issues following their separation.

  • Resolution Together

We have 3 solicitors who have trained in the “Resolution Together” model (One couple – One Lawyer) where both of you use the same lawyer to resolve finances and/or child arrangements and keep things out of court. This can work well for a couple that has reached an agreement between themselves or through mediation and needs legal advice and assistance in getting a consent order from court.

  • Collaborative Law

If you would like to keep things amicable and out of court but would feel more confident doing so with your own lawyer rather than a joint lawyer, we also have lawyers trained to negotiate for you collaboratively. With this approach, each of you has your own lawyer, and we all sit around the table to negotiate a settlement without going to court.

  • Resolution

All our family lawyers are members of Resolution, a national group of family lawyers who aim to keep things less confrontational and more amicable, and to put the children first.

  • Other advisors and experts

We have good working relationships with local mediators who will help you and your former spouse to reach your own agreement but without giving legal advice.

It helps to have good advice right from the start, whether that is legal or specialist advice such as from a pension expert, financial advisor or accountant, so that you understand your options and have a realistic idea of what outcome you can expect. We have a number of trusted expert advisors to refer to when the advice you need is not legal advice.

  • Keeping it out of court

If you need more legal guidance or a decision of specific issues you cannot agree on, we can refer your case for a neutral evaluation from a barrister for a decision on what is likely to happen if you go to court, or a decision from a private judge or arbitrator.

Our specialist family lawyers can review your specific circumstances, and we recommend obtaining advice at the earliest opportunity.  We offer a free exploratory call so that we can match your specific needs with the right person in our family team.  For more information or to arrange an appointment with a member of our Family Team, please contact us on 01206 764477. The team can offer advice at one of our offices in Colchester, Chelmsford,  Frinton-on-Sea, Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds, or by telephone or video appointment. We are also pleased to be able to support Blue Light members and offer a discount on our initial fixed fee meeting.