Divorce and Dividing Assets

During the initial phone call with either a member of our New Enquiries Team, or an appropriate member of our Family Law Team, we’ll discuss the key aspects of your enquiry.

During this call we will take all of the necessary information to enable us to determine whether we can help – think of it as essential fact-finding. From here we can guide you on the best course of action, and the likely costs.

It is important to understand that we do not offer free initial meetings and neither do we offer free legal advice: we are unable to give legal advice until you formally retain our services and become a client.

For a married couple (including same-sex couples, or those in a civil partnership) divorce or dissolution is the legal process of ending a marriage/civil partnership through a Court procedure. However, it rarely involves the necessity to attend Court. Many divorces proceed uncontested (not challenged or disputed) which helps to save time and money, while also reducing stress and acrimony between parties.

A financial divorce settlement includes much more than just savings and investments.  It also covers property and its contents including personal items (the family home), pensions, life insurance policies, vehicles, businesses and even debts, loans and credit cards.

The family home is often particularly central to the break-up as it’s likely to be the single biggest asset. By working with you, we aim to reach the best possible settlement for you and your family – this could be in the form of a lump sum payment, legal title transfer or complete sale of the property. All finances should be declared to the former spouse as part of this settlement process.

If your former partner is not willing to sell or come to a financial divorce agreement, we can issue Court proceedings on your behalf. The Court can then determine the best route forward taking into consideration your respective interests and/or a sale of the property, allowing you to get on with your life.

In April 2022, after many years of advocation from Family Law practitioners, significant reforms to the Divorce process in England and Wales were introduced – the first substantial reforms in 50 years. The most momentous of these reforms led to the ‘No Fault Divorce’ – an amicable approach to divorce where couples won’t be required to blame their former partner for the irretrievable breakdown of their marriage.

The aim of the long-awaited Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 is to avoid forcing parties into point scoring and finger-pointing. Instead, it hopes to encourage amicable separations – especially important for marriages with children. Under previous legislation, if a couple had been separated for less than two years, one party was required to ‘blame’ the other for the breakdown of the relationship in the divorce application.

To do this, they would either need to provide evidence of their former partner’s adultery or detail examples of their unreasonable behaviour. While the divorce solicitors at Wilson Browne welcome these reforms encouraging amicable separations, we also acknowledge that they are not without limitations, the full extent of which is still yet to be determined.

Typically, a divorce or dissolution can take anywhere between six to eight months if it’s not defended, and proceedings can be issued after one year of either getting married or committing to a civil partnership. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that additional issues relating to money, property or children could draw out this process for even longer.

According to official Government guidance, in order to obtain a divorce in England or Wales you must have been married/part of the civil partnership for over a year, the relationship should be in a state or permanent disrepair, and it should be legally recognised in the UK (this includes same-sex marriage).

In the UK, neither spouse is entitled to a specific minimum amount as part of a divorce settlement. In practice, you would be entitled to half of the family assets i.e. 50/50 split. However, family courts typically reach the decision on who is entitled to what as part of the settlement based on the factors such as the needs of any dependent children or the reasonable living needs of both spouses post separation.

Unfortunately, both divorce and separation can be costly. However, here at Wilson Browne, we aim to keep these costs affordable, manageable and predictable. Prior to beginning any soliciting work on your behalf, you’ll receive an estimate of our fees.

Only once you’ve confirmed that you’re happy with our estimated costs will we start the divorce proceedings. Upon receipt of your instruction to work with us, we’ll keep you informed of costs every step of the way, ensuring every cost is both clear and understandable.

Actions such as paying off or reducing debts or purchasing goods and services are not classes as deprivation of assets.

In most cases, the parent who is considered to be the primary caregiver of the children will be entitled to live in the family home during or following divorce as they are the ones responsible for the child’s day-to-day care.

When considering the rights of a wife in divorce, the starting point is usually the dividing of assets – often on a 50/50 basis. However, it’s rarely as straightforward as this as family courts consider multiple factors, such as each spouse’s income and their financial needs as well as the needs of any children from the relationship.

Regarding the family home, each spouse would typically be entitled to half of the property – unless there’s a legal agreement that states otherwise.

Pensions are also usually considered to be the second largest asset married couples must split after property, with typical options including pension sharing or pension offsetting.

The concept of custody doesn’t exist in the law of England and Wales anymore. As such, courts do not award custody to a parent. Instead, the children have a right to a meaningful relationship with both parents, but family courts may need to decide who the child should live with using a Child Arrangements Order (CAO) if the parents can’t agree between themselves.

To do this, they’ll look at who has parental responsibility for the child (mothers automatically have this responsibility but so do fathers if they were married to the mother at some point) as well as the child’s best interests.

As divorcing couples tend to both have parental responsibility for the child and therefore the right for the child to live with either of them, the court will often determine child residence based off which parent is the primary caregiver and the child’s best interests.

Each spouse is responsible for paying their own legal fees during a divorce.  However, there are some circumstances where one may be required to pay for the other’s solicitors fees. This might be due to financial disparity, conduct, the need for equal representation, or child custody and support issues.