Family: Matrimonial & Relationships

When marriages and other relationships break down, there are many issues that need to be resolved.  Our approach is to be proactive in helping clients through a difficult time. Our aim is to achieve a timely and cost effective outcome but sympathetic to the individual client’s needs.

We have particular and well-tested expertise in handling ‘high value’ and financially complicated matters often involving business assets and inherited wealth.

We have led the way in establishing pre-nuptial agreements as a sensible method of dealing with a couple’s assets particularly in circumstances where the marriage is a second marriage.

We have acted in divorces all over England and Wales. Divorces today are rarely contested but we have the expertise and experience to deal with defended divorces.

We have many years of experience in handling the issues arising out of the breakdown of marriages and relationships. Although mindful of the alternative ways of resolving the issues, our ethos is to adopt a proactive approach to achieve a timely and cost effective outcome.

Drastic cuts in government budgets mean that very few will qualify for Legal Aid. We offer a range of schemes so that you can control what you do yourself, what we do to assist you and how much you pay. The schemes are:

Which scheme is right for you?

Legal Assistance

If your divorce is uncontested and you are comfortable with dealing directly with the court and with your spouse or their solicitor, we can help you to start the divorce process. We will ask you to complete a questionnaire to enable us to prepare the divorce papers. You can then file the petition at court and liaise directly with the other party and the court.

Our fees: £100 & vat
Court fees: Petition fee (£550) and decree absolute (£40) unless eligible for exemption

£100 & vat includes:
• Questionnaire for you to complete
• Divorce Information note on the law and procedure
• Up to one hour with a specialist solicitor – face to face, by telephone or Skype
• Prepared divorce papers for you to file at court

£50 & vat for:
• Application for the decree nisi

£50 & vat for:
• Application for the decree absolute

Does not include:
• The court fees (you can apply to the court to waive the fee if you are exempt)
• Preparing the application to discover if you are exempt from paying court fees
• Further or additional advice (apart from initial consultation)
• Contested or complex divorces
• Divorces with unresolved financial or children issues
• The cost of any additional work required as a result of any errors or omissions in the divorce petition which are not of our making
• The cost of additional work or fees required as a result of the other party failing to respond
• Any dealings with the court or other party

Where you request additional work, a revised fee estimate will be given and agreed with you in advance.

Legal Assistance Plus

If your divorce is uncontested and you would like us to help you through the process, we can prepare all of the necessary forms, check that these are completed correctly and deal with the court and the other party.

Our fees: £500 & vat
Court fees: Petition fee (£340) and decree absolute (£40) unless eligible for exemption

Includes:
• Questionnaire for you to complete
• Divorce Information note on the law and procedure
• Up to two hours with a specialist solicitor – face to face, by telephone or Skype
• Advice on the divorce and other issues
• Completing the divorce petition
• Filing the divorce petition
• Completing and filing the application for the decree nisi
• Completing and filing the application for the decree absolute

Does not include:
• The court fees (you can apply to the court to waive the fee if you are exempt)
• Preparing the application to discover if you are exempt from paying court fees
• Contested or complex divorces
• Divorces with unresolved financial or children issues
• The cost of additional work or fees required as a result of the other party failing to respond

Where you request additional work, a revised fee estimate will be given and agreed with you in advance.

Bespoke

If your divorce is contested, involves issues concerning your children or complex financial issues, we can help you through the process and offer you specialist advice on all issues.

Our fees: £100 & vat – initial one hour consultation
Court fees: Petition fee (£340) and decree absolute (£40) unless eligible for exemption

Following this, our hourly rate of £195 & vat per hour will apply.

Includes:
• Questionnaire for you to complete
• Advice from a specialist solicitor on the divorce process and children / financial issues – face to face, by telephone or Skype
• Completing the divorce petition
• Filing the divorce petition
• Completing and filing the application for the decree nisi
• Completing and filing the application for the decree absolute
• Negotiating financial issues
• Preparing other court documents
• Attempting to resolve children issues
• Arranging court representation
• Providing regular cost estimates

Does not include:
• The court fees and fees of other organisations where necessary (eg valuer, expert, barrister etc)