Legal Advice on Separation

If you are separating from your partner, it is important to seek specialist family legal advice on your rights from North West family solicitors.

Knowing your rights can help you separate amicably. Consulting a family lawyer isn’t an adversarial step; it’s just protecting your interests and helping you navigate the next steps to life after a separation or divorce.

Contact our specialist family lawyers for a consultation on your separation.

Tips on how to separate from a partner

Whether you are separating from a spouse, civil partner, or cohabiting partner, you need to talk to an expert family solicitor. Early knowledge about your separation legal rights is vital as the advice can affect your plans and timescales.

There are five key issues to consider when contemplating a separation:

1. Has my relationship ended, or could it be revived?
2. Can I leave the relationship safely?
3. When and how do I tell my partner I am leaving?
4. When should the children be told that mum and dad are separating?
5. How do I sort out the legal, property or financial aspects of my separation?

Has my relationship ended?

It isn’t always easy to tell if your relationship has ended. You may think relationship counselling could revive it, or a trial separation may help your relationship get back on track.

Even if your relationship has definitely ended, some couples find joint counselling sessions helpful in achieving an amicable separation. Others benefit from individual counselling to help them come to terms with the relationship breakdown and move on with their lives.

It’s common to feel grief, anger, shame and a whole range of other emotions when you separate. If your former partner does not appear as affected by the end of the relationship, it may be because they have already emotionally detached from the family. That doesn’t mean your emotions are wrong, but it can help you to work through them with a counsellor or divorce coach.

Can I leave my relationship safely?

Whatever the legal status of your relationship, it’s vital that your separation takes place safely. If you have:

1. Lived in a relationship with domestic abuse or
2. You fear domestic violence when you announce you want to leave or
3. You are concerned about ongoing coercive control after your separation.

Injunction solicitors can help you secure a non-molestation, ouster, or occupation order to safeguard you and your family.

Family law solicitors always recommend taking legal advice on your separation before you leave the family home. That advice applies to you even if:

1. You are unmarried, and your partner owns the property.
2. You are renting.
3. You don’t have children.
4. You don’t think you could afford the outgoings on the family home on your own.
5. Your ex hasn’t been violent.

Leaving the family home when you don’t need to do so can put you on the back foot when negotiating a property settlement as an unmarried partner or a financial settlement as a spouse. If you have children, leaving the family home can be highly disruptive for them. Child support (and interim spousal maintenance if you are married) may allow you to stay at the family home until the separation or divorce is finalised and a financial court order is made.

When and how do I tell my partner I am leaving?

Telling your partner that your relationship is over, or hearing the news from them, is never easy. How and when you should have the ‘it isn’t working’ conversation depends on your circumstances. However, family lawyers always recommend talking to a solicitor first as their specialist legal advice may help you:

1. Decide on the timing of your separation and put a plan in action. For example, if you need an injunction order or the support of your family in telling your partner the relationship is at an end or in the immediate aftermath.
2. Organise your finances so you know how much income you will have if you are paying or receiving child support or spousal maintenance.
3. Help you understand whether you are likely to be able to stay in the family home whilst the financial and property aspects of your separation are sorted out.
4. Understand the likely parenting arrangements for your children. Temporary arrangements may need to be sorted out until future living arrangements are finalised. You may need an urgent child arrangement order if the separation is acrimonious.
5. Think about whether there are any risk factors, such as your ex trying to take your child overseas (this is parental child abduction if going abroad is without your consent) or trying to exert coercive control (to try to force you to stay in the relationship or to agree a financial settlement that suits them).

When should the children be told that mum and dad are separating?

Talking to your child or stepchild about the end of a parental relationship is a tough one. Many parents delay the discussion because it is so uncomfortable, and they think the children won’t pick up on the atmosphere at home, whilst other parents want to ‘get in first.’ Ideally, parents should try to talk to their children together, but that can be too hard for some parents or counterproductive if there is a lot of anger about the separation.

There is specialist help available, such as:

• Supporting Children through Separation and Divorce | NSPCC
• Supporting your child through divorce and separation | Cafcass
• Helping children through separation | Gingerbread

Legal advice on separation: How do I sort out the legal, property or financial aspects of my separation?

If you are contemplating the future of your relationship or if your partner has told you that the relationship is over, you need to speak to a family solicitor to understand your rights.

Talking to a lawyer doesn’t mean that you both need to ‘lawyer up’ and go to court to thrash out who gets custody of the kids or who stays in the house.

At Evolve Family Law, we offer a fixed-fee relationship breakdown comprehensive initial review. The fee includes a meeting with a qualified lawyer to discuss all legal and practical aspects of your situation, including assessing the best routes to resolving it. That meeting may then enable you to use family mediation to achieve an amicable separation or to understand your rights and not feel totally at sea, not knowing what is reasonable to ask for or how the next steps will pan out after you have made the decision to separate.

An initial consultation is equally helpful if your ex has announced that the relationship is ending and that you will need to pack your bags or that they will be doing so, leaving you devastated and wondering how you will cope with the children and the bills.

At Evolve, we know that any separation is painful, but we try to ease your pain by giving you the information and support you need.

At Evolve, our North West family law solicitors are:

• Local with offices in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire and Manchester.
• Specialists – we advise on family and private client law as we know what we know.
• Tailored and bespoke – with us, you get advice tailored to you and your family.
• Proactive – if you need urgent legal advice to protect your children or to secure an injunction, we have the specialist team you need on your side.
• Ranked excellent on Trustpilot.

Contact our specialist family lawyers for a consultation on your separation.