You would be right to think that the simple question ‘how much does a divorce cost?’ deserves a straightforward reply. However, very few law firms publish price information on their websites. Evolve Family Law was one of the first law firms to publish fixed family law and divorce fees so clients get an idea of costs before calling or emailing us. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. The cost of no-fault divorce proceedings If you are applying for a no-fault divorce as a single applicant the cost of the divorce proceedings can be found here. At Evolve Family Law we believe in keeping things simple so our fixed fee no-fault divorce quote includes: Our legal fees VAT on our fees The court fee payable to the family court when the divorce proceedings are issued at the court What our fixed fee divorce package does not include is: Relationship breakdown comprehensive legal review Children arrangements advice and applying to the court for a child arrangement order Divorce financial settlement advice and applying to the court for a divorce financial settlement or asking the court to convert a financial agreement into a financial consent order We offer a fixed-fee relationship breakdown review and a range of fixed fees for converting a financial agreement into a court order. For work where we can't offer a fixed fee because we don’t know how much work is involved, we publish the hourly charge out rates of our family law solicitors. We also discuss the potential issues or complexities of any contested children law application (such as an application for a relocation order or for a prohibited steps order) or the complicated features of a financial dispute (such as the existence of a family business or an argument over pre-marriage contributions or the relevance of an international prenuptial agreement) so we can give you a bespoke quote and an idea of timescales. Are all divorce proceedings fixed fee? On rare occasions we can't offer a fixed fee divorce package but, on those occasions, we can provide you with a quote so you understand our fees and the reasons why you need a bespoke quote. Examples of when you may need a bespoke divorce quote include: You do not know where your husband or wife is living so service of the divorce paperwork is not straightforward Your husband or wife is living outside the UK There is a dispute about which country you should get divorced in as there is potentially a choice of divorce jurisdictions You want to ask the court to make a divorce costs order – this type of application is rare in no-fault divorce proceedings [related_posts] Transparency and fees When Evolve Family Law was set up in 2015 by founders Robin Charrot and Louise Halford, they didn’t want to create just another law firm. They knew they wanted Evolve to be different with a vision to put clients (and not the fees) at the heart of what their family law solicitors do by being trusted legal advisors, and charging a fair and transparent level of fees. What that means is that whatever the nature of your family law query you get bespoke advice tailored to your personal situation at a cost that you can understand. What do we mean by that? To give examples: Robin Charrot met someone who was thinking about starting divorce proceedings. After talking through their circumstances, we realised that he didn’t actually want a divorce and there was no legal or financial reason to push ahead with one. Better for the client to wait until he was ready, whether that is in a few weeks, or a couple of years.  The answer might have been different if the client had been a business owner with an expanding company or other assets that could increase substantially in value meaning that delay was financially prejudicial to him A lady was clear she wanted a divorce. She knew from the outset that her divorce costs would be a set fixed fee. That meant she could budget for the costs, without worrying about how much her divorce legal costs might add up to Every divorce is different but our fixed fees and pricing guide are available online to give you an idea of the costs involved so that you can contact us with confidence. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

According to the latest research householders over the age of 50 own about 75% of the country’s homes. That’s a lot of equity tied up in property and can create a generational divide with parents and grandparents having too much space and newlyweds looking to start a family not able to afford to buy a first property without assistance or separated couples not being able to create 2 homes for themselves and their children after a divorce. Our private client solicitors are often asked about estate planning when writing Wills and our family law solicitors are asked for innovative solutions in divorce financial settlements. In this blog, we answer some questions on sharing property wealth with the next generation. For expert advice on family law and estate planning call our team of specialist lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. Housing options As private client and family solicitors, we come across these types of housing issues on a regular basis: A husband or wife is getting divorced and can’t afford, on their own, to take over the mortgage to stay in the family home An older couple wants to make sure that their son or daughter can get on the housing ladder but is concerned about their deposit being kept safe from their child’s partner A family is thinking of moving in together so there is a three-generation household A person is thinking of buying a house and doesn’t know if their partner should be a joint owner or not An older person is thinking of downsizing and either transferring their house to a child or gifting money to a child or grandchildren [related_posts] Property solutions No two families are the same and so one solution doesn’t fit every family. Generally, there are several property solutions, for example: If a husband or wife can’t afford to stay in the family home after a divorce either because they can’t afford to take over the existing mortgage or to borrow more money to buy off a former partner then a parent or other family member could stand as guarantor to the mortgage If a couple want to get their child on the property ladder, they could lend the child money with the loan secured against the house. The loan can suit the family, for example, interest may or may not be payable or interest could be accumulated and only paid if the house is sold If three generations are moving in together the property could be jointly owned by all the adults with a deed of trust setting out the details of property ownership or the mid-generation couple could be the legal owners with the older generation having a right to occupy the house A person buying a house could either buy jointly with their partner or on their own – if the property owner is in a relationship, they should sort out a cohabitation agreement whether or not their partner is a joint owner or lives at the property with them If a person is thinking of giving property or money away, they can do so during their life through what is known as lifetime gifting. Gifts can be made outright or money can be put in trust for family members. Alternatively, the gift could be made outright but protected by the family member receiving the gift asking their partner or spouse to sign a cohabitation agreement or post-nuptial agreement What property and estate-planning solution fits? The right ‘’property solution’’ is down to a number of factors, for example: Inheritance tax implications of making a gift or putting money into a trust The need to protect family money from potential financial claims on the separation or divorce of a family member Family circumstances and personal preferences Given the range of options, it is always sensible to ask for help from specialist private client, estate planning, and family solicitors before gifting money to family members or moving in with a partner. Early bespoke assistance can make sure that you make the right decisions for yourself and your family and protect your loved ones. For expert advice on family law and estate planning call our team of specialist lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

Evolve is delighted to announce that family law solicitor Ellie Stokes has joined the team at Evolve Family Law.   Ellie previously worked in Staffordshire where she maintains strong ties and plans to continue to work with family law clients in Staffordshire as well as with new clients in Cheshire and the Greater Manchester area.   As a new recruit who professes to enjoy quizzing, we quizzed Ellie about her reasons for joining Evolve Family Law and her career plans:   Why Evolve Family Law? I was looking to join a niche family law practice in the North West and Evolve Family Law fit the bill as I wanted the opportunity to gain experience from senior family lawyers. With founders Robin Charrot and Louise Halford’s nearly 50 years of combined legal experience and the friendly supportive team at Evolve, I had no hesitation in saying yes to the move.   The first week at Evolve has already been insightful and I feel like I am learning so much directly from my colleagues. Judging from my first week, I just know I am going to learn so much and enjoy the variety of family law work at Evolve.   Your path to becoming a solicitor? My working life started at McDonalds flipping burgers but with a degree in International Management with Spanish I knew that I needed to find a career that suited a tidy and organised mind whilst allowing me to get to meet people. A career in law seemed to combine the two. Time spent as a legal intern in the USA working at the California Innocence Project confirmed that qualifying as a solicitor was the right career path for me. The internship was challenging and combined both legal know-how with helping those incarcerated who had nowhere else to turn to for help. I learned a lot and think that my time in the USA made me the advocate that I am today; feisty and prepared to stand up for what is right. Why family law? Whilst training as a solicitor, I worked in a variety of departments, some of which I enjoyed, others less so. However, I was still yet to find an area of law which I found resonated with me most as a person. Just by chance, I was asked to sit behind a barrister on a contested final hearing in relation to an application for a child arrangement order. Within 15 minutes of that hearing, I knew family law was for me and luckily, I was able to do my final seat in family law and qualify as a family solicitor. I’ve always been passionate about making a difference in people’s lives in my work or making people’s lives easier during potentially the most awful times of their lives. I feel like family law fits the bill in that sense. What areas of family law do you specialise in? I advise on the full range of family law because I love the variety but I have particular expertise in financial claims on relationship breakdown and in helping resolve the financial and property claims of non-married couples, LGBTQ+ partners, and married and civil partners. As a family lawyer, I am keen to get the message across that your legal rights are very different if you are in a cohabiting relationship rather than if you are married or in a civil partnership. Cohabitees have to rely on property rights. However, if you are married or in a civil partnership the court has wide discretion to make orders that meet your needs rather than orders based on property and trust law. In the LGBTQ+ community, there is a particular need to understand your family law rights and options, such as the use of cohabitation agreements, civil partnership and prenuptial agreements, as well as the need for specialist children law advice on topics such as parental responsibility for your children or achieving parenthood through international surrogacy. In every family law matter, you are helping someone at an important point in their life whether that is: New relationships – with cohabitation agreements, declarations of trust, prenuptial agreements, or changes to their Will Extending the family – with advice on parental responsibility and child arrangement orders, surrogacy, and parental orders Relationship breakdowns – by trying to help couples reach a property or financial resolution that works for them by providing constructive legal help focussed on what can be agreed to enable both of them to move on with their lives What gets you up in the morning? Other than my 5 alarms, a large cappuccino is my answer to getting going and seated at my desk. Once I am at work, I am kept busy with lots of client calls, meetings, document preparation, and court hearings. No 2 days are ever the same and that is what makes life as a family law solicitor so interesting. I’m at the start of my career but I look forward to the day when I am advising on international surrogacy using my Spanish language skills as I have a keen interest in this subject.  Until then I generally find myself knee-deep in financial disclosure trying to unravel complex financial paperwork. For example, when 1 party to a marriage or civil partnership has moved money or assets or is a director and shareholder in a family business and there is a need to understand movements and discrepancies in a director’s loan account.   Is there life outside Evolve Family Law? There is definitely life outside of Evolve and family law. Whilst I live in Staffordshire, I am an ardent Liverpool football fan and I get to all the matches I can. I combine my love of football with being a lead guitarist in a local band and being a quiz buff. My claim to fame is winning ITV’s tipping Point and being cast for ITV’s The Chase. My ultimate quizzing goal is to be an Egghead though I have got some way to go in achieving that ambition.   For expert advice on family law call our team of specialist lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. [related_posts]

At Evolve Family Law we believe in being upfront about charges. That helps you and us. Being open about legal charges means you know how much your family lawyer or private client solicitor is charging you. In this article, founder Robin Charrot offers insight into some of the outmoded charging structures used by most law firms and explains how the Evolve pricing philosophy is different. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. Units of time For work that is charged on a ‘time spent’ basis, all other law firms that Evolve’s lawyers have ever come across charge per hour, but using 6-minute ‘units’ of time. So, if a phone call takes 2 minutes you get charged for 6 minutes of your solicitor’s time and with a 7-minute call you get charged for 12 minutes of your lawyer’s hourly rate, and so on. That may strike you as unfair. We agree. Evolve has been charging in ‘units’ of 1 minute since we started in business set up our offices in Holmes Chapel and North Manchester. That means if something takes a minute, you only get charged for a minute of our time, with the charge based on our published hourly rates. Fixed fees or units of time billing At Evolve Family Law we offer some of our services on a fixed fee basis and other services are charged on a time-spent basis. Evolve was one of the first law firms in the country to publish our fixed fees and hourly rates on our website. Some of our family law and private client work is particularly suited to fixed fee charging, such as: Divorce Agreed financial court orders Standard Wills Lasting Powers of Attorney Preliminary advice on prenups or postnups For a full list of our fixed-fee services take a look here. Other types of family law work are not possible to charge on a fixed fee basis. For example, some child arrangement order applications involve 1 or 2 hearings whilst others involve the instruction of experts and several more court hearings, such as a finding of fact hearings and a welfare hearing. Likewise, a contested divorce financial settlement hearing may take a day or a week of court time for the judge to decide on the appropriate financial court order because of the complexity of the assets and the parties’ circumstances. As every family situation is different it isn’t possible to devise a fair fixed fee structure for all types of family law work as the couples who decide to settle early or limit the points in dispute would be penalised as the fixed fees would need to encompass the whole range of straightforward or complex children law or financial court proceedings. In addition, it isn’t always readily apparent when first instructed, just how complicated matters are. For example, a spouse may try to hide assets in financial settlement court proceedings or a children’s law application for a child arrangement order may involve allegations of parental alienation. [related_posts] How does unit of time billing work? We welcome questions about how our fees work as we believe it is best to be clear and upfront about costs so you know how the unit of time billing works and can budget for legal services. Our family law solicitors and private client lawyers’ hourly rates are published on our website and contained in our client care information. Each minute is charged at the fee earners’ hourly charge-out rate. When you first contact us, you may have been recommended to a particular solicitor or you may be happy to be guided by us as to who would be best placed to help you so we match your needs with the most cost-effective fee earner for you. Although you will always have a named solicitor working for you, we make sure that if we can delegate work to a junior fee earner we do so. For example, whilst you may need the knowledge and experience of a specialist child abduction solicitor who has handled lots of complex children law proceedings there is no reason why they should be preparing a court bundle when it is cheaper for you if one of our junior solicitors or paralegals assists with this type of task. At Evolve Family Law we are acutely conscious that unit-of-time billing works to the advantage of slow solicitors who take their leisure over completing legal paperwork. We don’t operate like that. Whilst we deliver an excellent standard of legal help we don’t ponder whilst the clock ticks away. We are efficient because we know that our clients have a right to expect that when they are paying by the minute. Our efficiency and level of client service are rewarded not just in prompt payment but by clients recommending us to their friends and family. For expert help with divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

As divorce solicitors, we are bound to say that yes you need a divorce solicitor if you are separating or planning on starting divorce proceedings. That’s because using a good divorce solicitor makes the legal process of separation and divorce less stressful than going it alone and the lawyer will ensure you understand your children law rights and help you achieve a fair divorce financial settlement. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. Choosing your divorce solicitor Choosing the right divorce solicitor for you is the key to a successful working relationship between you and your lawyer. It is a difficult question to ask but what do you want from your divorce solicitors? Expert legal advice is a given but what else? There should be an element of trust as you are putting negotiating the parenting arrangements for your children and your financial future in your lawyer’s hands. When your divorce solicitor tells you that the divorce financial settlement you have discussed in family mediation is a fair one that should be agreed upon and converted into a binding financial court order in the divorce proceedings you need to be able to trust your lawyer’s judgment and experience and know that they have your best interests at heart. [related_posts] Working with your divorce solicitor If you don’t like your lawyer, or if you don’t trust them to always do the right thing for you, it is hard to place confidence in the legal advice they give you. Unlike any other area of law, the relationship between a family lawyer and their client is fundamental to the outcome of a case.   It is an unfortunate reality that many people have a deep set distrust of the legal profession based on the stereotypical fat cat solicitor who is only interested in maximising legal fees, who makes money out of other people’s misery, costs a fortune and who has an ego the size of a house. That couldn’t be further from the ethos at Evolve Family Law. Founders, Robin Charrot and Louise Halford have many years of legal experience in large commercial law firms and so sadly recognise the stereotypical ‘fat cat‘ lawyer image. It was precisely those experiences that led to them opening a family law firm that was a bit different. The focus is on helping clients and building trusted relationships between divorce solicitor and client that can last well beyond their ‘case’. Evolve Family Law opened in 2015 with the vision of being the most trusted and first-choice legal advisor for people going through relationship changes. At Evolve, clients are at the heart of all our divorce solicitors do. The focus is on listening, understanding, helping, and giving practical, strong, sensitive, and commercial legal advice. Our divorce lawyers don’t tell our clients what they want to hear, we tell them what they need to hear. If that legal assistance means we lose fees, we are fine with that. It is this approach to getting the best outcome for clients whilst offering value for money and transparency that has enabled Evolve to grow, with the vast majority of new work coming from existing or former clients, or their friends and contacts. If you are going through a divorce or relationship breakdown, ask yourself whether your divorce lawyer truly thinks as we do at Evolve. If you aren’t sure, then maybe Evolve Family Law a call. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

You may question why you would remarry your ex but remarrying your former husband or wife is a growing trend. Some unkindly refer to it as yo-yo or boomerang marriages but as divorce solicitors, we understand that what attracted you to a person in the first place can reignite despite your separation and divorce. For expert help with divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. The legal implications of remarrying your ex Once you get divorced your legal relationship is at an end although some financial ties may remain unless you obtained a clean break divorce financial court order. This type of divorce financial settlement severs any financial obligations. On remarriage, you are husband and wife again with the same marital legal relationship as the first time around. That marriage relationship brings with it financial obligations. Those obligations are not covered in your financial court order obtained after your first marriage and subsequent divorce. What that means for you is that if you remarry your ex and it does not work out the second time around either of you can apply to the family court for a financial court order. The size of the financial award will depend on several factors, including the length of your second marriage and your respective needs. [related_posts] The importance of a prenuptial agreement when remarrying your ex It is understandable to be a bit wary about getting remarried, especially if you went through an acrimonious divorce financial settlement first time around. Even if you were able to reach an agreed financial consent order after the end of your first marriage you are right to be cautious about getting remarried to your ex and the financial implications for you. This is especially true when you are in a financially stronger position than the ex you are re-marrying, perhaps because you were more careful with your share of the assets from your first divorce financial settlement. How can you protect yourself financially whilst still enjoying a second marriage with your ex? The answer is a prenuptial agreement tailored to your circumstances. That’s because on re-marriage it is as if you are back to square one, with all the financial claims that a husband or wife can bring on a second divorce. For some couples that means that they are both more comfortable with living together in a cohabiting relationship with a cohabitation agreement in place to sort out and record their agreed property and financial arrangements. Others prefer the security of marriage but with a prenup agreement drawn up prior to their second wedding. There isn’t one legal solution that’s right for everyone who decides to get back together with an ex-spouse. Normally there are legal pros and cons to the options of living together without remarriage or marrying for the second time, with a prenuptial agreement in place. Putting romance and family feelings aside, for inheritance tax reasons, a couple’s adult children might well thank their parent’s decision to remarry rather than cohabit with one another but there is a wealth of legal and financial considerations with each option. The legal advice will all depend on what the couple agreed on the first time around about property ownership and the split of pensions and their current financial circumstances. Most couples who are marrying a second time around see a lot of sense in signing a prenup agreement. The document means that there is less risk of acrimonious and expensive second divorce proceedings. The beauty and practicality of a prenup agreement are that it can be as detailed or as broad as the couple requires provided that certain legal requirements are met. For those preferring to cohabit together, it is just as important to draw up a cohabitation agreement as few couples realise that even if they don’t remarry and don’t jointly own a house together that property claims can still be made if a relationship breaks down. For expert help with divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

Concerns about the impact of living with a new partner and how it will impact your divorce financial settlement are not unusual. As divorce solicitors, we help answer your questions on how your planned cohabitation with a new partner or your ex-spouse’s decision to spend a large proportion of their week with their new partner will affect the divorce financial settlement. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. Does forming a new relationship affect the divorce financial settlement? Forming a new relationship may affect your divorce financial settlement. It isn’t possible for divorce solicitors to give a definitive answer without more information about your personal and financial circumstances and those of your ex-spouse. Although it is commonly assumed that the presence of a ‘’third party’’ will make a massive difference to a financial settlement that isn’t necessarily correct. That’s why it is best to speak to a divorce solicitor about your situation, and that of your ex-spouse, and to make sure that you don’t let the presence of a new partner adversely affect your judgment. If you do then it can be harder to set your feelings and emotions aside to focus on reaching a reasonable split of the family assets. It is especially hard to come to terms with an ex-spouse meeting a new partner when the ex-partner has hidden the new relationship from you and you have found out about the new boyfriend or girlfriend through the backdoor. For example, from children, family friends, or, as is often the case, from posts and pictures on social media or from disclosure and questions within financial settlement court proceedings. Is your ex-spouse cohabiting with a new partner? If there is a new partner on the scene the first question, from a family law solicitors’ point of view, is whether the spouse is living with his or her new partner or if they are at an early stage of a new relationship and not cohabiting. Sometimes there are disputes about whether a couple are living together or not because: Of the financial consequences of cohabiting and The ex-spouse and their new partner are not living together on a full-time basis as they each keep a separate home base although they spend a lot of their week together and present as a couple Working out if an ex-spouse is cohabiting with a new partner is important because if cohabitation can be established: Your ex-spouse may find it a lot more difficult to ask for spousal maintenance for themselves If there is already a financial court order in place you may be able to apply back to the family court to stop the spousal maintenance or to reduce the amount you pay If you are negotiating a divorce financial settlement, or you are involved in court proceedings, your ex-spouse may find it harder to argue that they need the same amount of money to rehouse themselves [related_posts] Proving that your ex-spouse is cohabiting with a new partner It is not uncommon for there to be a dispute about whether an ex-spouse and their new partner are living together as a cohabiting couple. Whether you are negotiating a divorce financial settlement by agreement or involved in divorce financial settlement court proceedings you and your ex-spouse are both under an obligation to provide full and frank financial disclosure. This includes disclosing your relationship status and the impact of your relationship on your housing and outgoings. For example, if you are living with a new partner are they sharing the rent and other outgoings? For example, if you plan to buy a new house with your partner does their savings and earnings capacity affect your ability to secure a bigger mortgage? Financial disclosure and new relationships The requirement to provide information about new relationships is contained in the court document (called a Form E) that needs to be completed by both a husband and wife in divorce financial settlement proceedings. Most family law solicitors also ask you to complete a Form E if you are negotiating a divorce financial settlement. In addition to disclosing the existence of a new partner that you are living with (or plan to do so), you also need to provide details about the new partner’s financial circumstances. This requirement can be a cause for concern especially if a new relationship is in its early stages or a new partner is unwilling to provide information that may be used against them or may result in them being drawn further into acrimonious divorce financial settlement proceedings. Non-disclosure of relevant personal matters or financial non-disclosure could be a basis for setting aside a financial agreement or a financial court order. If the non-disclosure is discovered during negotiations then trust can be lost making it harder to reach a divorce financial settlement. If the non-disclosure is revealed through questions asked during financial court proceedings the judge could draw adverse inferences against the person who hasn’t provided full and frank disclosure. The relevance of a new relationship to a divorce financial settlement There is often an argument that two homes are being maintained by the spouse and the new partner. It is then a case of establishing if, despite the two physical homes, the couple is in reality cohabiting because of the amount of time spent together and the financial links between the two of them. In some situations, it can be in the financial interests of a spouse to say that they do have a new partner they are living with and have taken on financial responsibility for. That is because that may mean they have larger outgoings and therefore an argument to say that they can’t afford to pay as much spousal maintenance each month or they need to spend more on rehousing. It is important to take objective family law legal advice on the relevance of an ex-spouse forming a new relationship when sorting out the financial division of property and assets. That’s because a lot of emotional and financial time and energy can be spent on exploring whether a separated spouse is in a new relationship and then whether, in reality, they are cohabiting together. The job of a family finance solicitor is to quickly assess whether a new relationship will have an impact on the financial settlement or the financial court proceedings. Although a new partner can be a hot topic it can either be a red herring or one of the key factors in your negotiations or in the family court deciding how money and assets are divided. The relevance of a new partner all depends on individual family financial and personal circumstances. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

The ONS figures reveal that the average age at marriage for men is around 38 years and 35 years for women. These statistics continue the rise in the average age of marriage since the 1970s. Marriage in the under the 20s has fallen whilst marriage for the over 65s has risen sharply. With those figures, it isn’t surprising that family lawyers are increasingly finding that arguments in divorce financial settlements centre on whether a husband or wife should keep their property owned before marriage in the divorce financial settlement or if the assets should be shared. In this article, family law solicitor, Robin Charrot, discusses how the divorce court treats pre-marriage assets. For expert divorce and family lawyers call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form. What is a pre-marriage asset? A pre-marriage asset is anything owned by a husband or wife before their marriage. Whilst a couple could have bought an asset together, disputes in divorce financial settlement proceedings focus on assets bought by a husband or wife in their sole name before the date of their marriage. A pre-marriage asset can be anything of value as family solicitors warn that it is not worth arguing over the relevance of pre-marriage owned assets if their value will be outweighed by the additional costs of a longer financial settlement court hearing or the investigative costs of tracing and valuing the asset. Typically, pre-marriage asset disputes relate to: Property – this could be a property bought by one party to the marriage that has become the family home or a buy-to-let property or second home Family business – if a husband or wife set up a family business or inherited shares in the business before their marriage Investments- this could be a share portfolio, cash savings, or cryptocurrency Pension – the pension could be a final salary scheme pension that was started pre-marriage with a current or former employer, a private pension scheme, or a business-related pension scheme [related_posts] Do pre-marriage assets need to be disclosed in divorce financial settlement negotiations or court proceedings? Pre-marriage assets need to be disclosed in divorce financial settlement negotiations and court proceedings. That’s the case whether you are engaged in: Direct discussions Family solicitor negotiations Family mediation Family arbitration Divorce financial settlement court proceedings with an agreed financial consent order or where a financial court order is made after a contested hearing The law says you need to provide full and frank financial disclosure of all your assets. If an asset was bought before your marriage, you should disclose it but you can argue that the value of the asset should be ignored when negotiating a divorce financial settlement or in contested financial court proceedings. If you do not disclose the existence of a pre-marriage-owned asset and the court finds out about the asset the court can draw inferences about the honesty of the spouse who concealed the property. If the existence of the pre-marriage asset comes to light after a financial court order is made then your ex-husband or ex-wife could ask the court to reopen a financial court order made without disclosure of the asset, involving additional time and expense. Do pre-marriage assets need to be valued in divorce financial settlement proceedings? The court decides if assets need to be valued in divorce financial settlement court proceedings and will normally order a valuation by a jointly appointed independent expert. The fact that the court has ordered the valuation of a pre-marriage-owned asset doesn’t mean the court will decide that the value of the asset is taken into account when making a financial court order. The court often says it needs to know the total value of all assets owned before it can decide if pre-marriage assets are relevant or should be shared as part of the divorce financial settlement. Are pre-marriage assets ignored if you sign a prenuptial agreement? Divorce lawyers advise that the best way to protect pre-marriage-owned assets is to sign a prenuptial agreement to ringfence the assets. If you didn’t sign a prenup, then signing a postnuptial agreement is another option. Prenuptial agreements can either be comprehensive in scope or the agreement can say that a particular asset should be ignored (or ring-fenced) in a divorce financial settlement. Whether the pre-marriage asset will be ignored depends on the circumstances in which the prenuptial agreement was signed and other factors. For example, was financial disclosure provided as part of the prenuptial agreement discussions, were you coerced into signing the agreement, did you both take independent legal advice, and was the agreement signed at least 28 days before the marriage? If you meet all the tests for a prenuptial agreement to be found to be binding on both spouses, the pre-marriage asset can still be taken into account if a fair divorce financial settlement cannot be made without recourse to the property because the reasonable needs of the husband and wife can't be met without taking into account the value of the disputed asset. Take the case of a 40-year-old man who owned property before his marriage. The property became the family home when he married and he subsequently had 3 children with his wife. The couple doesn’t have any other significant assets and if the value of the family home isn’t taken into account in the divorce financial settlement the wife will end up with very little and will be unable to rehouse herself and the children. The outcome might be very different in a short marriage without children and where the wife had a good income and mortgage capacity. How does the court decide if pre-marriage-owned assets should be kept by the asset owner? In divorce financial settlement proceedings, the court makes a financial court order after assessing a range of statutory factors (referred to by family law solicitors as the ‘’section 25 factors’’) and exercising discretion. The court will ask itself a series of questions: Is the asset a pre-marriage asset- there may be a dispute over the date of purchase or, if the couple were cohabiting at the time of purchase, it could be argued that the cohabitation (assuming the relationship moved seamlessly into marriage) means the asset wasn’t acquired ‘’pre-marriage’’ Is there a prenuptial agreement and does the agreement meet all the relevant tests, such as the agreement was freely entered into, without coercion? What are the reasonable needs of any children and the husband and wife? What factors are relevant to the pre-marriage assets? For example, the length of the marriage or the fact that the pre-marriage asset was used as the family home for years may make it less likely that the asset owner can argue that the value of their pre-marriage asset should be ignored What are the family assets and can a fair and reasonable financial settlement be ordered without recourse to the pre-marriage-owned asset? A family solicitor will ask the same sorts of questions to help you and your spouse reach a divorce financial settlement involving pre-marriage-owned assets to try to avoid a contested divorce financial settlement hearing. For expert advice on divorce and family law call our team of specialist divorce lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.