Protecting you
When it comes to divorce and financial Orders it can be difficult to know where to start. At Evolve the divorce financial settlement solicitors aim to reduce the worry and stress involved in negotiating a financial settlement after your separation or divorce. We protect your interests by making sure you know about the importance of financial disclosure and correctly valuing assets, such as pensions or the family business. We aren’t fazed by the complexities of nuptial trusts or international family law aspects, such as conflicts of jurisdiction or overseas-based property. Our goal is to make the complicated simple to enable you to make informed financial settlement choices and to then protect you with a financial Order.
Listening to you
We are not all the same so some spouses will want to secure the very best financial settlement in financial Court proceedings and others will want to reach an agreement through direct negotiations, family mediation or through their financial settlement solicitor. To help you achieve your financial Order we will take a personal approach, listening to your preferred settlement route and options, advising you on financial Orders so you can make informed choices about the best financial settlement for you and your family.
Sorting the financial paperwork and securing your financial Order
Many couples reach a financial agreement direct, through family mediation or financial settlement solicitor negotiations and think that is the end of the matter. If you want your divorce agreement to be legally binding and enforceable you will need a Financial Court Order. A financial Order can be made by agreement or after contested financial Court proceedings. At Evolve our divorce financial settlement team, led by Robin Charrot, can sort out all the paperwork for you so you understand the terms of the Order and are protected by it.
Why choose the divorce financial settlement solicitors at Evolve Family Law
Partners and family solicitors, Robin Charrot and Louise Halford lead an experienced team of financial settlement experts who have the experience and expertise to advise on financial settlements and to secure financial Orders that protect you and your family, however, complicated your personal and financial circumstances. At Evolve, our family law solicitors pride themselves on attention to detail to ensure you get the financial Order that reflects your financial settlement agreement or expert representation in Court proceedings.
Divorce And Financial Orders– Your Questions Answered
Divorce and Financial Court Orders
The divorce proceedings or dissolution of civil partnership proceedings can be finalised without a Financial Court Order being made. Divorce financial settlement solicitors recommend that family law legal advice is taken before you secure your final divorce Order or your final Order in civil partnership proceedings. That’s because it may not be in your best interests to finalise the divorce or civil partnership proceedings without putting a Financial Court Order in place.
Do you have to attend Court to get a Financial Order?
You don’t necessarily have to attend a family Court hearing to secure a financial Order provided you have been able to reach a financial agreement with your husband, wife or civil partner. To protect you the financial agreement should be drawn up into a formal financial consent Order and submitted to Court for approval with a financial statement of information. In most cases, the Court will approve an agreed financial consent Order without the need for a Court hearing.
How do you get a Financial Order if you can’t reach an agreement with your ex-partner?
If you can’t reach a financial settlement with your husband, wife or civil partner directly, through divorce lawyers or family mediation then either one of you could potentially start financial Court proceedings. After financial disclosure and a series of Court hearings, the Court will decide how your assets are divided and make a Financial Court Order. In contested Court proceedings you do need to attend court hearings.
The family Court encourages couples to try to reach a financial agreement. For example, in most cases, you need to try family mediation before you can start financial settlement Court proceedings. If family mediation doesn’t work and one of you starts Court proceedings the Court will hold a financial dispute resolution hearing to help facilitate an agreement. If agreement can be reached at the financial dispute resolution hearing a financial consent Order can be made. If an agreement can’t be reached the Court can list a contested final hearing where, after hearing evidence, the Court can make a Financial Court Order.
Why do you need a financial consent Order if you have a family mediation memorandum of understanding?
If you reach a financial settlement in family mediation the mediator will prepare a memorandum of understanding setting out the agreement. This should be converted into a binding financial consent Order by your divorce financial settlement solicitor to protect you. Without a financial consent order, you may not be able to implement the Order or enforce it.
If you secure a Financial Court Order, can you make further financial claims?
If you obtain a Financial Court Order potentially you or your ex-spouse or ex-civil partner could bring some types of additional financial claims if your financial Court Order is not a capital and income clean break Order. It is important that your divorce financial settlement solicitor carefully advises you on whether further financial claims are possible as your priority may be to achieve a clean break.
If your Financial Court Order includes payment of spousal maintenance, it is particularly important that you understand how an application can be made to stop or vary spousal maintenance payments. Spousal maintenance can be varied upwards or downwards.
There are many different ways in which a Financial Court Order including spousal maintenance can be drawn up. The Court Order could include a capital clean break or an immediate capital clean break and a deferred income clean break. Whether your financial Order prevents future financial claims is an important point so it is vital that your expert divorce financial settlement solicitor clearly explains the various legal options to you during solicitor negotiations and financial Court proceedings.
What financial Orders can the family Court make?
The Court has the power to make Financial Court Orders by agreement or after a court hearing. The Financial Court Order can include:
- Financial disclosure Orders – so the Court has sufficient information to make financial
- Interim Orders – such as the payment of interim spousal maintenance or maintenance pending suit.
- Spousal maintenance Orders – spousal maintenance can be ordered to be paid for life or can be time-limited.
- Child support Orders – the Court has limited powers to make child support Orders as child support is normally determined by the Child Maintenance Service or agreed by parents. For example, the Court can order payment of school fees, top-up maintenance if a maximum Child Maintenance Service award has been made, additional financial support to cover the costs of a child’s disability or child maintenance for step-children.
- Family home Orders – the Court can order the sale or transfer of the family home. The Court can also make a deferred Order for the sale of the family home. This is known as a Mesher Order or a Martin Order.
- Lump-sum Orders – this type of Order involves the payment of a cash lump sum. The amount and timescale for payment will depend on your financial and personal circumstances. The Court also has the power to order the transfer of investments or the sale of investment funds and can order how the funds will be allocated.
- Pension Orders – these types of Pension Orders can be either a Pension Sharing Order or a Pension Attachment Order.
- Family business Orders – these Orders depend on ownership of the company, or other business structure, but can include the sale or transfer of shares.
- Family trust Orders – whether the Court can make direct Orders against trust will depend on whether the trust is a nuptial settlement or not.
- Cost Orders – the Court can order that one party pays all the costs or a proportion of their ex-partner’s legal costs. A divorce financial settlement solicitor will carefully advise you if there is a prospect of a cost Order being made.
Is a Financial Order enforceable?
A Financial Court Order is enforceable but it is important that your divorce financial settlement solicitor advises you on the best wording for your circumstances. For example, if you want the Court to order that the family home is sold you may want to include a detailed clause about the sale of the family home, such as choice of estate agents and marketing price. If a spouse won’t cooperate with the sale of the family home you can apply to the Court for an Order that a family judge has the legal authority to sign the sale paperwork on your former spouse’s behalf so the sale of the family home can be achieved.
