If you begin proceedings to obtain a divorce or dissolve a civil partnership, part of this process will involve agreeing a division of your finances with your spouse or civil partner. It is important to obtain legal advice as this is a complex area of law, although this can be costly if your finances are

If you are going through a divorce or dissolving your civil partnership, it is possible to apply to the court for maintenance pending suit (MPS) under section 22 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. MPS is monthly maintenance payments paid by the financially stronger party to the other party whilst the division of assets is

A child arrangements order (“CAO”) is a court order either setting out the arrangements for your child which have been agreed between the parties by consent and later approved by a judge or magistrates, or arrangements for your child which have been decided by a judge or three magistrates. A CAO usually sets out who

Parental responsibility (“PR”) is defined in section 3(1) of the Children Act 1989 as “all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child, and his property”. If you are a mother, you automatically have PR for your child from birth. If you

Be careful about your state pension if you divorce later in life If you reached state pension age before 6 April 2016, which would be the case if you are a woman and were born before 6 April 1953, you would be included in the ‘old’ state pension system. This system allowed divorced women to

What happens if I get remarried without sorting out the finances in my divorce? It is really important to reach an agreement about dividing your assets if you are going through a divorce or dissolving your civil partnership. Even if neither you nor your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner have any significant assets, the agreement needs

Domestic Abuse Act 2021 – Update Each year, there are 2.3 million victims of domestic abuse aged between 16 and 74 and two-thirds of this figure are women. In order to provide greater protection to those who have experienced domestic violence, provisions of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (the “Act”) will come into force this

No-fault divorce to come into force in 2022 On 25 June 2020, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill received Royal Assent and became the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (the “Act”). The Act will come into force on 6 April 2022. The new law will allow you to apply for a divorce or dissolution