On 6th April 2022, England and Wales will see the most significant change occur within family law in over half a century. The current law provides for a breakdown in marriage or civil partnership to be petitioned for with one of 5 grounds of divorce/separation. This has been an ongoing issue for many couples as marriages/partnerships do not always come to an end due to any particular reason other than, the couple are no longer in love. However, the English court did not see this to be a sufficient reason to end a marriage/relationship, which will now no longer be the case.
Whilst the law in this country is becoming more straightforward, the process can still be complicated when there are various factors involved especially children, shared assets, and international aspects.
Our firm specialises in not only simple divorce proceedings but also complex proceedings that involve separation, financial settlements, children, and international aspects.
We have an experienced family law team with our firm’s consultant, Simon Cooper, who has over 30 years’ experience in this area of work, an associate solicitor, Munira Javed Abib with over 5 years’ experience with family law cases and a paralegal Ayse Salih, who also has a specialist interest in family law.
As well as representing clients in obtaining a divorce, we also assist in ancillary aspects such as financial settlement/distribution of family assets, maintenance for spouse and children, care arrangement orders in relation to children, occupation and non-molestation orders.
From 6th April 2022, the process of applying for a divorce/ending a civil partnership will solely be done via the MyHMCTS online portal. Under the new laws, there are no longer multiple grounds for divorce. An applicant (previously referred to as a petitioner) only needs to show that a marriage has irrevocably broken down.
The option to contest a divorce is also now taken away, meaning, if one party to the marriage feels the marriage has broken down, then the court will accept that this indeed is the case.
Also, under the new procedure it is possible for both parties to a marriage or partnership to make a joint application for a Divorce, which hopefully will remove much of the acrimony caused by one party “blaming” the other for the breakdown.
Our firm can assist you whether you are the one filing the divorce proceedings or responding to a divorce petition. All court proceedings are subject to time scales which are important to adhere to. Our aim in all family proceedings is to resolve the matters by consensus if possible and encourage our clients to mediate and/or engage in negotiations amongst themselves to save themselves from large court costs.
Divorce proceedings have many stages, and, with each stage, our family law team will endeavour to support you in ensuring that the best outcome is reached.
The first step is for the application to be made to the court via the online portal. Our family team will prepare the grounds of divorce which will now be a statement of how the marriage has broken down irrevocably.
If you are the responding party, once the application is made by your partner, the court will send you a questionnaire. This is when we are engaged, and we provide clients with advice on their rights within the marriage in relation to the finances and/or children.
Following making the application to court, a cooling off period of 20 weeks is granted to the couple to reconcile if this is an option, or in the alternative come to an agreement where needed in relation to finances or children. The court will then grant a conditional order (previously known as decree nisi.)
After which, a further 6 week period needs to pass to ensure all loose ends have been tied up in relation to any ancillary matters. This is to ensure that any financial and property issues are resolved. Following which the parties can apply for a final order (previously known as decree absolute) bringing the marriage/civil partnership to an end.
Our experienced family law consultant will be able to assist you whether from the beginning of your matter or at any point in the process of the proceedings.
If you are overseas and your divorce is taking place under the English jurisdiction, we are able to assist you via remote working and can have any meetings by telephone and/ or video conferencing.
We charge on a time basis but can provide fixed costs for uncontested divorce proceedings dependant on the merits of each case. In all cases, there is a court fee for the application of £593. We try to deal with this matter collaboratively by agreeing the petition with the other party and splitting the court fee equally.
Matters are charged on time charge rates; this can be discussed in detail at the initial meeting.
Please contact our firm and ask to speak to our family law team for any enquiries by calling us on 020 8446 6223 or emailing enquiries@sr-law.co.uk
We have offices in Central London (at 32 Bloomsbury Street, WC1), North London (Finchley N3- close to the North Circular Road)
