Experienced Divorce Lawyers in Southampton: Your Path to a Smooth Divorce Process

If you are considered a ‘proven victim of domestic abuse’ or your child is at risk of harm, you may qualify for legal aid. There is also a financial test that will apply and you should contact our legal aid team for a Legal Aid pack, if you think that you may be eligible.

Yes you must attend a MIAM (Mediation Information Assessment Meeting) before making an application to court- unless you are exempt due to domestic abuse, or there is an applicable exception, such as urgency.

You should ensure that the agreement reached is binding and enforceable upon you both. The only way to do this is to draw up the agreement within a financial consent order. It is important that this document is drawn-up by a qualified specialist and if your ex’s solicitor draws up the agreement, ensure you also obtain independent legal advice on the contents.

No. If you are married or in a civil partnership you will have a financial interest as the family home will be considered a matrimonial asset. You can apply to protect your interest in the family home by registering a Notice of Home Rights. This is something that you should talk to our team about urgently. For unmarried parties, you can seek to claim a beneficial interest in the property, even if you are not named on the legal title.

If parents are not able to agree the arrangements for children to see both parents then it may be necessary to ultimately apply to the court. There are a number of alternatives available, including; solicitor-led negotiation, mediation, family based counselling and parenting courses to help separated parents learn to work together. We can guide you through the options and try to reach an agreement without the need for court involvement. In high conflict cases we will fight your case through the court route.

The aim in all cases will be to ensure that both parties and the children’s housing needs are met. Depending upon the assets available, it may be possible to enable one of the parties to remain living at the former family home post-separation. Our experienced family law specialists will be able to talk to you about your options and work with you to achieve your best outcome.

There are a number of options, including; using income and capital, financial support or loans from family and friends, commercial lending from banks, credit cards, a specialist litigation loan, an agreement with your former spouse that they pay, or court order directing them that they must pay, and Legal Aid funding. Talk to our team about the funding options available in your case.

Parents should try to decide together what the living arrangements should be for children. If you can decide between yourselves, there is no need to take the matter to court. Under the Children Act 1989, the court will always rule that no order should be made unless it is in the best interests of the child, and will only intervene if absolutely necessary. This is often only required in more complex cases where there are safeguarding concerns.

In England and Wales the majority of settlements will not be taxable income, but circumstances do vary on a case by case basis. There may be other tax considerations you need to take into account, including issues of Income Tax, Inheritance Tax, Stamp Duty and Capital Gains Tax. Your solicitor will be able to advise on these.

After ascertaining the value of the property, you need to decide whether someone wants to keep it. Any person keeping property will need sufficient borrowing capacity for the existing mortgage and outgoings, and might need to ‘buy out’ the other person’s financial interest. In some cases, it is possible for the other party to retain a deferred interest in the property — this is usually so that dependent children can remain in the family home. In other cases it may be possible to offset the property’s equity against other assets such as a pension pot, savings and investments. Often there are financial reasons that mean a 50/50 split of the equity in a property is not a ‘fair’ division. There may also be good reason to argue that a greater share of the equity in a property should be retained by one party over the other. 

No, your Will remains valid and it’s vital that you amend or update it when going through divorce. For the purposes of inheritance, the Will will treat your ex-partner as though they have died during the divorce proceedings, so you will need to update your beneficiaries to ensure any inheritance is divided as you wish.

Begin by consulting a solicitor; we offer a free initial consultation without obligation to begin the process. Once instructed, we will draft a divorce application on your behalf and file with the court. After your spouse responds to the application, 20 weeks after the date of issue you can apply for a conditional order and then 6 weeks later a final order finalising the divorce. It’s worth noting that this process is purely the divorce side of things – resolving finances is often an area of difficulty which requires expert legal advice.

Yes, but none of the fine details of a divorce are available to the public. The only thing on public record is the Decree Absolute, which just contains the parties’ names and the date of the proceedings.

Resolution Members
Our solicitors are all members of Resolution – a national organisation of family lawyers committed to non-confrontational divorce and separation.

Accredited Team
We are accredited by the Law Society and have members on the Advanced Family Panel of Solicitors.

Collaborative Lawyer
Richard Barratt – the head of the Divorce and Family Team – is also a qualified Collaborative Lawyer.

What does this mean? Well, under the collaborative process, each person appoints their own collaboratively trained lawyer and you and your respective lawyers all meet together to work things out face to face. Both of you will have your lawyer by your side throughout the process and so you will have their support and legal advice as you go.

Resolution Specialist Accredited Members
Helen Stoller is also a Specialist Accredited Member of Resolution in relation to finances and children matters.

It will take at least 20 weeks from the date the divorce application is issued to the date of the conditional order (the first stage). It will take a minimum of a further 6 weeks before you can apply for the final order ending your marriage or civil partnership. This means, a straightforward divorce can take around 6-8 months. Often divorces can take longer because parties are negotiating and finalising a financial settlement arising from their separation.

In England and Wales, it currently costs £593 to pay the court.

We can arrange a consultation to discuss your reasons for divorce and offer fixed fees so we can continue to process your request. Throughout the entire process, our professional divorce and family law solicitors will support and represent you with our expert advice to achieve the very best outcome.

You may qualify for a court fee reduction from the government. We can offer Fixed-Fees Divorces and Payment Plans, depending upon your circumstances