If you are married and the marriage has irretrievably broken down then you will need to consider whether or not it is in your best interests to issue divorce proceedings to bring the marriage to an end.
There is no obligation to issue divorce proceedings and we can discuss the alternatives with you.
There can be benefits and disadvantages in issuing divorce proceedings:-
- Often one of the parties may be keener to progress a divorce than the other and whether or not divorce proceedings should be issued and on what grounds may be an issue for negotiation.
- If a financial settlement is to be reached, then if it is made a court order as part of divorce proceedings it will assist in the binding nature of that agreement.
- Against that, being divorced may result in various pension rights being lost and other financial implications.
- The issue of divorce proceedings incurs costs and there is the possibility of seeking a reimbursement of those costs from the other party.
Whether or not divorce proceedings should be issued is one of the matters that we will want to discuss with you so that we can decide what is in your best interests.
The premature issue of proceedings or an undue delay in issuing can have consequences.
If after discussion with you it is decided that it is best for divorce proceedings to be issued, we will be happy to advise you as to the grounds available and we will be able to draft the papers for you and deal with the issue of them through the courts.
In the vast majority of cases the divorce proceedings themselves (as opposed to dealing with the finances or children issues) will not involve any need to attend court and the procedure is dealt with by post.
BEWARE FIXED PRICE DIVORCE ADVERTS
We are aware that there are a number of adverts on the internet offering “fixed price divorce”.
These adverts are often very misleading. In most cases all that is being offered is to send you the court forms that need to be completed to apply for a divorce. The fee rarely involve advising whether issuing a divorce is in your best interests and will certainly not include advising you on aspects such as resolving the finances or dealing with children issues.
The fixed price offer is usually to attract you in so as to sell you more expensive services for dealing with these aspects.
We do not offer a “fixed fee” for a divorce because we think to do is misleading, unless it is made absolutely clear what the fee does and does not include. If after discussion with us, you decide that it is appropriate to issue divorce proceedings, we will be happy to give you an estimate of the costs involved in that work – which costs will often match or indeed be lower than some of the “fixed price divorce offers” that we have seen advertised.
