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

If you have gone through a divorce, dissolved your civil partnership, or separated from your partner and it was difficult to agree the contact arrangements for your children with the other parent, you may have had to apply to the court for a child arrangements order (the “Order”) to set out who your children will

If you are separating from your partner, spouse, or civil partner and you have children together, it is very important to consider the arrangements for contact with your children as soon as possible after your separation. If you are unable to reach an agreement having tried a method of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation

If you are divorcing your spouse, dissolving your civil partnership or separating from your partner, part of this process will be to agree the division of your assets and/or arrangements for your children. These issues can be agreed between you, you can instruct solicitors to enter into negotiations on your behalf, or as a last

If you separate from your child’s parent, it may not be possible to reach an agreement about the contact arrangements and you may need to apply to the court for a child arrangements order, where the court will consider the circumstances and decide the frequency and type of contact with each parent. The Children and