FAQs

The Court will need basic information from you such as names, addresses and whether there are any children in your family. They will need your original Marriage Certificate (or a certified copy from the church or district council where you were married). They will also need to know the reason for your divorce.

If your divorce is to be based on your spouse's adultery or their unreasonable behaviour (see Factsheet: Divorce) you will need to give details about this. For example you will need to say when the adultery began although you will not have to name the other person (in fact, people are encouraged not to name the other person to promote an amicable way forward).

If the divorce is based on your spouse's unreasonable behaviour you will need to give details about that behaviour in brief, providing a list of events which end with the breakdown of the marriage.

If there are children in your family you will need to complete a separate form giving the Court information about them. This information will include where they live, who with, where they go to school and whether there are any agreements in place between you and your spouse.

If you would like some advice about agreeing arrangements for children to see the spouse who no longer lives with them, please follow this link to see our further information: Children: Residence/Contact.

There is some debate as to whether a separation agreement is directly enforceable. It is perhaps better to ask whether it will be upheld by the Court if one or other party then tries to get out of it. So long as there has been full and honest financial disclosure, so long as both parties have been independently legally advised and so long as there has been no significant change of circumstances the matrimonial courts will usually uphold a separation agreement.

If a couple are divorcing or know that they will be divorcing very shortly, once agreement has been reached with regards to the financial issues it is generally best to go straight to obtaining the Court's approval of that agreement by way of a consent order.

If, however, a couple do not want to get divorced until they can use the grounds of two years separation (coupled with the other's consent) but yet they want to divide up their assets and begin their respective new lives, a separation agreement can be a useful and effective way of achieving that. It would still be a good idea, however, to turn the separation agreement into a consent order once divorce proceedings are eventually started two years down the line.

If, for example, a couple do not want to get divorced for religious reasons or because they perceive it as beneficial to preserve rights to a widow or widower's pension or simply for other personal reasons a separation agreement would be sensible. It would also be a good idea to give serious thought to the process of judicial separation which effectively enables a separation agreement to be approved by the Court in a very formal way but without there being a divorce. Instead a decree of judicial separation will be pronounced. Proceedings for judicial separation are not common but can be extremely useful in these sorts of circumstances. This should be discussed with your legal adviser.

There is no set answer to this question.  The approach is flexible enough to fit in with the needs, time and other constraints of the people involved.  Many people will find that they reach an agreement in 4 months (there is then the paper processing part, whilst the Court confirms the arrangements and the implementations stages are concluded). However, many people will take longer to deal with things.

On average, solutions are found in 4 to 5 sessions, lasting between 1 ½ to 2 hours per session.

Again, there is no set answer as much will depend on the seniority of the lawyer representing you and the area of the country in which they practice.

Openness and honesty are the two foundation stones of the success of the collaborative approach.

The parties need to each understand that their lawyers will be working together and to do that to the best effect, they must be able to share information with each other.

The collaborative approach has no place for tactical tricks.

This can happen from time to time. What will happen will depend in part upon the cause of the upset.  Sometimes some time out is all that is needed to get back on track.  Sometimes it is more sensible for the meeting to be brought to an end and a new date fixed later.

The two collaborative lawyers will have been trained to deal with these events and will work closely together with the parties to deal with the process whilst acknowledging that there will be upsets along the way.

Family mediation is a voluntary and confidential process which helps fair joint decision making without the use of Courts.

Mediation may be free for you if you are eligible under the Community Legal Services Fund (formerly Legal Aid).  If you are not eligible under this Fund, then each mediation service sets out its fees.  The usual rate is approximately £100 an hour plus VAT.  However, some services operate a sliding scale based on your income.

You do not necessarily have to have a solicitor but you may find it helpful to take independent legal advice during the mediation process, and particularly at the end, to make sure that the solution you reach is the best for you.  You may also need a solicitor to arrange for a Court Order to be prepared on your behalf, setting out your solution.

No. Mediation helps with resolving the consequences of the breakdown of a relationship by concentrating on the future and helping to set up the practical and legal arrangements.

No. On a divorce a financial application can still be made to the Court. The weight which a Court is now required to give to a prenuptial agreement, however, is much greater than it used to be.

No. The process surrounding the making of the agreement and the outcome of the agreement must still be basically, fair and reasonable. It is very unlikely that an apparent intention to leave one party destitute will be upheld. If, however, both parties are starting from a position of reasonable independence of means an agreement which seeks primarily to give protection to each would be reasonable. Unforeseen events and significant financial misfortune then befalling one party through no fault of their own could nevertheless be relevant subsequently.

Yes. A properly drawn agreement with proper disclosure having been given and legal advice sought by both parties will be given significant weight. Even if, because of changed circumstances and/or unforeseen events some aspects are altered by the Court on a divorce, it may still operate to limit whatever award might otherwise have been made.

In simple terms, if a Local Authority (Social Services) is granted a Care Order then the Local Authority acquires Parental Responsibility and becomes the third parent (in addition to the mother and the father).

In care proceedings, the Court will usually appoint a children's guardian for the child concerned. The guardian will be an independent professional and advise the Court as to what is in the child's best interests.

A Placement Order authorises the Local Authority (Social Services) to place a child for adoption with any prospective adopters who may be chosen by Social Services.

The first step is to provide written notice to your local Social Services Department. The Local Authority (also known as Social Services) must be given 3 month's notice before you are able to make an application to the Court for a Special Guardianship Order.

With a Special Guardianship Order, the birth parent(s) retains Parental Responsibility albeit in a weakened form. With adoption, the birth parents have their Parental Responsibility extinguished.

SGOs are usually granted to grandparents who are caring for a grandchild when the parents are unable, and may be opposed, to the grandparents caring for the child.  Practically, the grandparents require dominant responsibility which an SGO provides. However, if the grandparents were to adopt their grandchildren, then this 'skews' the family dynamics with a grandchild becoming, in law, a child of the grandparent and thus a sibling to the child's birth mother or father.

Parental Responsibility is the legal term which describes all the rights and responsibilities which someone can have for a child. In practice, people who share parental responsibility (usually the child's parents) should consult with one another about decisions which should be made for that child. However things do not always work that smoothly.

It is in fact possible for people who have parental responsibility for a child to make decisions independently of one another.

The term 'custody' is no longer used and has been replaced with a residence order. Similarly, the terminology of 'access' has been replaced with 'contact order'.

Yes. Most couples manage to resolve arrangements for their children by agreement. Some couples are assisted with this by trained mediators. A small number of couples are unable to resolve matters and resort to the court process. Shared residence orders are now more common-place; recognising that despite the breakdown of the relationship, both parents continue to have an important role in their child's life.

If you have a Residence Order in your favour then yes.  Otherwise, this is a criminal offence and you need to obtain the written permission of the other parent.

Possibly not: If you can evidence that the other parent's sole motive in moving abroad is malicious and is to destroy your relationship with the child then the court is unlikely to consider this to be in the children's best interests.

In most circumstances – yes.  If the country to which your child has been taken is a member of one of the international child abduction conventions, there will be immediate steps you can take.  Urgent legal advice is required.

There are steps you can take. For example, you can obtain a Court Order, prevent a passport being issued and, in urgent situations, request an All Ports Warning.

The removal or retention of a child across an international border (abroad) by one parent, which is either in breach of a Court Order or is without the consent of the other person.