Family Law Articles & Advice

The question “ How much child maintenance should I pay?” isn’t always a straightforward one or an easy question for a Cheshire family law solicitor to answer. That’s because most family circumstances need exploring before a definitive answer can be given so you understand how child support fits into your overall divorce financial settlement. In this article, children law solicitor, Louise Halford, answers your frequently asked questions on how much child maintenance you should pay. What is child maintenance? Child maintenance and child support are one and the same thing to divorce solicitors. So, whilst you may hear reference to child support it is the same as child maintenance, namely the financial  support paid by one parent to the other parent or primary carer of the child for the child’s upbringing and support. What child maintenance does not cover is: Payment of school fees – if a child is being privately educated and payment of school fees is in dispute you can apply to the family court for a school fees order that the other parent pay all or a proportion of the private school fees and any specified extras Payment of spousal maintenance – if the other parent requires financial support in addition to the child maintenance provided for the child’s upbringing then the parent can apply to the family court for spousal maintenance provided that they are eligible to do so. For example, you cannot apply for spousal maintenance from a former spouse if you have remarried. Child maintenance is in essence the financial arrangement between you and the other parent of your child over the money payable to financially support the child after parental separation or divorce. The amount of child maintenance payable is not dependant on the status of the parent’s relationship. In other words, whether child support is payable and the amount of child support isn’t affected by whether you are in a married or cohabiting relationship. However, under current law an unmarried partner can't claim spousal maintenance whereas a husband or wife or civil partner can do so from their separated or divorced spouse or civil partner. Is child maintenance payable if you don’t see the child? If you are a separated parent and you don’t see your child , either as a result of your decision, a child arrangement order by the family court or you don’t see your child frequently because of distances and difficulties with travel, you will still need to pay child maintenance. Your legal obligation to pay child maintenance only stops if the child is adopted. How is child maintenance calculated? Child maintenance can be calculated and paid under: A private arrangement- this is between you and the other parent Under a court order – in limited circumstances the family court has the power to make a child maintenance order Through a Child Maintenance Service assessment – the Child Maintenance Service is a government body tasked with calculating and securing payment of child maintenance. How long is child maintenance payable for? You will need to pay child maintenance until: Your child is sixteen or Your child is under twenty if they are in approved education or training or Until you agree otherwise if payments are made on a voluntary basis under a family arrangement. Arranging child maintenance with the other parent You don’t have to involve a solicitor or the Child Maintenance Service to sort out how much child maintenance you should pay if you prefer to sort it out direct with the other parent. However, divorce solicitors recommend that you take some specialist legal advice so you understand how child maintenance fits in with the overall financial settlement, such as whether spousal maintenance is payable and for how long or who gets to stay at the family home. It is also important to reality test the proposed amount of any agreed child maintenance to make sure that you will still have enough  to live on, especially when you have rehoused yourself and taken on a new mortgage or are incurring extra costs because of travelling to see the children. The best point about agreeing child maintenance with the other parent is that you can agree any figure that you want to with the child’s mother or father. You don’t have to use the strict mathematical formula adopted by the Child Maintenance Service but instead can look at what the child needs and what you can afford to pay. Arrangements can be flexible and could involve you paying less than what the Child Maintenance Service would assess you as being liable to pay because you have agreed to share the costs of private nursery fees or after school or holiday clubs or you agree to pay an older child a set monthly amount in clothing and pocket money allowance. Alternatively, you can agree that payments should be higher than the Child Maintenance Service would assess you as being liable to pay because you are able to afford a higher figure and you want your child to be able to enjoy a similar standard of living to that experienced whilst you were living together as a family. If you agree child maintenance payments direct it is best to remember that you can't bank on the child maintenance payments staying the same. If payments are made on a voluntary basis they could change, for example, they could go down if the parent paying child support realises that that the agreed figure is unaffordable because they have had to take on a big monthly mortgage commitment to buy a new property. If direct arrangements break down you can try to reach a new agreement using family solicitors or family mediation or an application could be made to the Child Maintenance Service. Using the Child Maintenance Service If you decide to use the Child Maintenance Service the government agency can calculate the amount of child maintenance you should pay or receive. The Child Maintenance Service uses a strict mathematical formula to assess the amount of child support. This formula does not consider the child’s outgoings (such as nursery fees) or the receiving parent or paying parent’s outgoings but instead focusses on the paying parent’s income. Once the Child Maintenance Service has calculated the amount of child support payable the payments can be made direct between parents or collected through the Child Maintenance Service. If you use the Child Maintenance Service to collect and transfer the child support then the Child Maintenance Service will charge a fee. That’s why it is preferrable to arrange payment direct if it is possible to do so. Who can't use the Child Maintenance Service to calculate child support? You can't make an application to the Child Maintenance Service for child support if: You have care of your child and you live outside the UK or The parent who is liable to pay child support lives outside the UK and doesn’t work for a British company or You are seeking child support for a step child. If you are married or you were previously married and the child was treated as a child of the family you may be able to apply to court for a child support court order You need child maintenance to cover school fees or the additional costs arising out of a child’s disability. You may be able to apply to court for an order to pay these costs You agreed a financial court order that includes a child support order for the child and the order is either less than twelve months in age or the financial court order was made prior to the 3 March 2003. [related_posts] How much child maintenance should I pay? The amount of child maintenance that you should pay is calculated by looking at: Your weekly gross income – this could be your salary or self-employed earnings The number of children you need to pay child maintenance for Whether there are children living with you in your new household – these could be step children or children you have had with a new partner The amount of overnight contact time you enjoy with the children you are paying child maintenance for – overnight contact time is averaged over a year rather than looked at on a weekly or monthly basis. You can calculate the amount of child maintenance you should pay or you should receive using the government online child support calculator but it is best to look at child maintenance within the context of your financial settlement so you understand how child support fits in with spousal maintenance and the split of capital or who gets to stay in the family home. It is also important to understand that child maintenance can go up or down or could end if the child moves to live with their other parent or there is a shared care arrangement. We are Manchester and Cheshire family solicitors For fast friendly family law advice call Evolve Family Law. Our specialist family law solicitors can help you with divorce proceedings,  child custody and contact , financial settlements and child maintenance. Call us or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are located in Whitefield, North Manchester and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

If you are thinking about starting divorce proceedings you may have read that English divorce law is changing. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to wait before you start divorce proceedings or that it is in your best interests to do so. In this blog, Manchester divorce solicitor, Robin Charrot, looks at the current five grounds for divorce. Evolve Family Law offices are located in Whitefield, North Manchester and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call. The 5 grounds for divorce Strictly speaking, a divorce solicitor will tell you that there is actually only one ground for divorce in England and Wales, namely that your marriage has irretrievably broken down. However, you have to evidence the irretrievable breakdown of your marriage under current divorce law by proving one of five facts. The five facts are: Adultery or Unreasonable behaviour or Two years separation and your husband or wife agrees to the divorce or Desertion or Five years separation – your husband or wife does not have to agree to the divorce if you have been separated for five years or more. How do you prove you have the grounds for a divorce? Many people are embarrassed at the thought of starting divorce proceedings and having to prove something like adultery or unreasonable behaviour. Equally, if you are on the receiving end of a divorce petition it isn’t nice to think that you have been accused of unreasonable behaviour or adultery. You may also worry about the effect of the divorce proceedings on your financial settlement or the childcare arrangements. Divorce solicitors say that proving that you have the grounds for divorce is normally not as complicated or as difficult as you may envisage. Gone are the days when you had to send a private investigator to a hotel to prove adultery. If you want to start divorce proceedings based on adultery then all you need to say in the divorce petition is that your husband or wife has committed adultery with a person whose identity you prefer not to reveal and that your marriage has broken down irretrievably. The respondent to the divorce petition just has to confirm that adultery took place, without the need to go into further details. Importantly, if you get divorced on the basis of adultery or unreasonable behaviour the basis for the divorce proceedings is only ever relevant in any child arrangement order application or divorce financial settlement proceedings in very rare circumstances. For example, if divorce proceedings are started on unreasonable behaviour and one of the allegations is that the respondent to the divorce petition physically assaulted the child. This allegation would be relevant in any child custody case. However, just because an allegation is contained in the divorce petition that you don’t agree to, it doesn’t mean that you have to defend the divorce proceedings provided that you are in agreement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. When are divorce proceedings contested? As it is possible to agree to get divorced without accepting all the allegations of unreasonable behaviour or without going into a lot of detail about the adultery, most divorce proceedings are not contested. After all, it doesn’t make sense to most people to challenge divorce proceedings if they accept that their marriage has irretrievably broken down and understand that the contents of the divorce petition won't affect the financial settlement or the childcare arrangements. [related_posts] Why is it best to get divorce legal advice? As it is actually easier to get divorced under current law than many people think, divorce solicitors advise that it is best to take specialist legal advice so that: You don’t assume that you should not start divorce proceedings now and instead wait until you can start a no-fault divorce when the new law comes into force You protect yourself, if necessary, by starting divorce proceedings straight away. For example, if you fear that your husband or wife is hiding money from you or transferring assets to other family members or you are worried that your spouse is spending to excess or is at risk of bankruptcy You don’t assume that you need to contest divorce proceedings based on adultery or unreasonable behaviour because the petition is very unlikely to affect either the financial settlement or child care arrangements. In addition, you can preserve your right to challenge any false allegation in the financial settlement or child arrangement order court proceedings You understand your divorce options as, for example, even if your husband or wife has committed adultery you may not be able to start divorce proceedings on that basis if you lived together as a couple for six months or more after they committed adultery and you were made aware the adultery. Sometimes your divorce options may surprise you as you can get divorced on the basis of two years separation if you have lived together in the same family home for two years provided that you have lived ‘separate and apart’ within the same household and your husband or wife consents to a divorce You protect yourself, if necessary, by either not starting divorce proceedings straight away or deferring applying for the decree absolute of divorce You understand the impact of the divorce proceedings and pronouncement of your decree absolute. For example, the impact of your separation and divorce on your immigration status if you are in the UK on a family visa or the effect of your divorce on your tax status and the tax treatment of the transfer of assets between yourself and your former husband or wife. Most divorce solicitors say that it isn’t just navigating the divorce process that is important but also understanding how your divorce fits in with any financial settlement or childcare arrangement that you either agree or ask the court to determine. We are Manchester and Cheshire divorce solicitors The friendly team of specialist divorce solicitors at Evolve Family Law can help you with your separation and divorce proceedings, child custody and contact and your financial settlement. For advice on your family and private client law needs call us or complete our online enquiry form. The Evolve Family Law offices are located in Whitefield, North Manchester and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire but we also offer remote meetings by appointment by video call or telephone.

Handing over money to a former husband, wife, or ex-partner can be galling. That’s especially the case when you are paying child maintenance and you don’t think that your former spouse or ex-partner is spending the child maintenance on your child. In this article divorce settlement and child support solicitor, Robin Charrot, looks at whether you can pay child maintenance direct to your child. Who do you have to pay child maintenance to? Child maintenance is normally paid to the parent who has primary care of the child. It isn’t paid to the child direct. Normally if child maintenance is paid after an assessment by the Child Maintenance Service, or after a financial court order is made in the family court, the Child Maintenance Service will encourage and the court will order that the child support is paid by direct debit to the receiving parent. If parents reach an agreement over child support, and there is no Child Maintenance Service or court involvement, then it is possible to agree to pay the child maintenance direct to the child. Is it best to pay child maintenance direct to a child? You may think that as child maintenance is financial support for the child that payment of the money should go direct to an older child. However, child support isn’t just about a clothing or an entertainment allowance for an older child. Child maintenance is also meant to contribute towards the main carer’s household bills and other items, such as: The mortgage or rent. Utility bills and other expenses that the child benefits from. For example, the broadband or Sky television package. Food and other essentials. The child’s clothing. The additional costs of looking after a child, such as presents, annual holiday , school trips etc. Whilst you may say that: Your former partner owns their home outright and so has no mortgage or Your former partner lives with a partner who pays all the household bills or You have no confidence that any of the money given to your former partner is spent on the child as the child is poorly clothed whilst your ex-partner has the latest technological gadget or designer clothing or is always off on a weekend away without the child. The bottom line is that most parents say that they want child maintenance to be handed over to them, rather than given direct to the child. That’s because a direct handover of money can: Make the child more aware of the parental conflict. Create anxiety in the child. Create conflict between child and main carer as the child sees all the child support as ‘their money’ to spend on themselves, rather than a contribution towards household expenses. Can you split child maintenance between a child and the parent with care of a child? If you are keen to pay child maintenance direct to your child you could have a conversation about whether you can pay some child maintenance by direct debit to your ex-partner and the balance direct to your child as a personal clothing or entertainment allowance. Does the Child Maintenance Service taken into account money paid direct to a child? If you pay money direct to a child and your ex-spouse or former partner then applies to the Child Maintenance Service for a child support assessment the Child Maintenance Service will carry out a calculation of your liability to pay child support. When calculating the amount of child support payable the Child Maintenance Service will look at your income rather than your outgoings and therefore won't take into account the payments made direct to your child. Agreeing direct payments to a child If you are able to reach an agreement on paying child support direct to a child then it is best to record that, either in your separation agreement or in your financial court order, as part of the overall financial settlement. However, if financial  circumstances change, the parent with primary care could change their mind and ask for direct payments to be made. [related_posts] Child support and financial settlements If you have separated from a former partner or are in the midst of divorce proceedings with a husband or wife it is best to consider child support as part of your overall financial settlement, rather than look at it in isolation to other aspects such as payment of spousal maintenance and whether you will get to stay in the family home or if it will be sold or transferred to your partner. We are financial settlement and child maintenance solicitors For legal help with a financial settlement or child maintenance call us or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire and Whitefield, North Manchester but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

Most of us like to think that we have protected our loved ones after our death. That may be by taking out life insurance, paying into a pension that includes a spouse or partner pension if you pass away before your husband or wife , or simply making a Will. However, none of these actions may prevent someone contesting your Will after your death. In this article, private client and Will solicitor, Chris Strogen, looks at how to best prevent someone from contesting a Will. Can you contest a Will? Most people think that if they have made a Will setting out where they want their property and money (referred to as their estate) to go to, that their express instructions in their Will can't be ignored or overridden. However, a Will can be challenged. There are two potential ways a Will can be contested: An allegation that the Will isn’t valid. An allegation that the Will doesn’t make reasonable financial provision for a person who has a right to make a claim against the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This Act applies to estates in England and Wales. Stopping your Will being contested on grounds of validity If you get your Will prepared by a specialist Will solicitor it is less likely to face a successful challenge that the Will isn’t valid. A Will can be said to be invalid for a variety of reasons, such as: The Will wasn’t witnessed properly in accordance with current witnessing requirements. The Will maker was coerced or unduly influenced into making the Will. The Will maker lacked testamentary capacity to make the Will. For example, because of age or dementia or another health condition affecting their ability to make decisions or because they were receiving hospital or hospice care and on strong medication when they decided to make their last Will. It is part of the job of a Will solicitor to try to ensure that a Will is valid. They will therefore try to minimise the risk of a Will being contested on the grounds of validity by taking precautions, such as: Giving clear advice on how the Will needs to be signed and witnessed, and if you are planning to get the Will witnessed remotely because of COVID-19, clearly explaining if you can do that and how to comply with remote Will witnessing regulations. Ensuring that the Will maker’s instructions are taken, rather than relying purely on a family member or friend to pass on the Will maker’s instructions as to what should be included in the Will. If the Will maker wants to make a completely different Will to their previous Will or a Will that is perhaps unusual (for example, leaving their entire estate to someone they have just met when the Will maker has a close and supportive family ) then explaining the potential for the Will to be challenged and helping the Will maker write a letter to accompany the Will to explain the decision behind the new Will. Alternatively, an explanation can be included in a Will, for example, that provision hasn’t been made for a spouse because of a separation. It is important that family law advice is also taken as a spouse can still make a claim unless there is a clean break financial court order in place. Checking to see if there any health or other issues that might enable someone to question whether the Will maker lacked testamentary capacity when they signed their Will. If there are any question marks it is sensible to be cautious and obtain a medical certificate to say that the Will maker has capacity. Although someone can challenge testamentary capacity even where there is a certificate, the claim is far less likely to be successful if the point was addressed at the time that the Will was made. [related_posts] Reducing the risk your Will can be challenged because it doesn’t leave reasonable financial provision The best way that you can reduce the risk of your Will being challenged because it doesn’t leave reasonable financial provision to a potential claimant is to be totally honest with your Will solicitor. Sometimes people are embarrassed to say that they have a child from a previous relationship because of the child’s age and other family circumstances or don’t mention a partner as they don’t want family members to know about their partner. Whatever you tell your Will solicitor is confidential and they can't give detailed advice without all the necessary information about your family and potential claimants. In addition, your Will is private and the contents of your Will don’t have to be disclosed to your family. However, explaining your Will to your family may help them understand why it is fair and, in addition, after death a Will becomes a public record. A Will solicitor can advise on potential reasonable financial provision claims that you may not be aware could be made. For example, your estate may be left to your second spouse but your child from your first marriage may have a potential claim. Alternatively, you may leave all your estate to your children but a claim is then made by a former husband or wife against the estate as they were in receipt of spousal maintenance payments at the date of your death. There are lots of things that a Will solicitor can advise on to reduce the risk of claims, including the: Creation of a trust during your lifetime. Lifetime gifting. Creating a discretionary trust in your Will. Preparing a careful letter of wishes to accompany your Will so your trustees can exercise their discretion and hopefully avoid a dependency claim. Taking family law advice, for example, capitalising spousal maintenance or taking out life insurance to cover any potential spousal maintenance claim against the estate. In addition to advising you on potential claims against the estate your Will solicitor can also advise on IHT planning so your Will and estate planning is as inheritance tax efficient as possible, taking into account your family and personal circumstances. ​We are Cheshire Will Solicitors For legal help with your Will or estate planning call us or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire and Whitefield, North Manchester but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

You may have read in the news that if you are getting divorced you may be eligible to receive a £500 mediation voucher to help pay for family mediation. In this article, our divorce expert, Robin Charrot, answers your questions on the new mediation voucher scheme and looks at the importance of legal mediation support. The family mediation voucher scheme The Ministry of Justice has announced that it has allocated one million pounds to enable up to 2,000 separating or divorcing couples to receive a £500 mediation voucher to help towards the costs of family mediation. Divorce solicitors say that competition for the £500 vouchers may be fierce as the Ministry of Justice says that the vouchers will be allocated on a ‘ first-come first-serve’ basis, rather than on a points or any other type of allocation system. What does the family mediation voucher scheme cover? The mediation voucher scheme covers family mediation on a range of family law issues, such as: Child custody. Child contact. Child maintenance. Financial settlement after a separation or divorce where there is also a dispute over children and either ongoing or potential children law proceedings. Why has the family mediation scheme been introduced? The family mediation voucher scheme has been introduced at this stage to help reduce court applications and to encourage the use of family mediation. That’s because the government believes that family mediation is a better, quicker and cheaper option than separating and divorcing couples starting family court proceedings to resolve child custody and contact issues or to secure a financial settlement. When will the family mediation voucher scheme operate from? The scheme was introduced on the 26 March 2021 under Practice Direction 36V (Family Mediation Voucher Scheme). The practice direction will expire after a year and the mediation vouchers will only be available whilst funding lasts. Does the voucher scheme cover the cost of attending a MIAM? The family mediation voucher scheme doesn’t cover the cost of attending the mediation information and assessment meeting (referred to as a MIAM). This initial meeting with a mediator is designed to check that mediation is suitable before family mediation is commenced. To be eligible for the voucher, both parties to the family mediation must have attended a MIAM on or after the 26 March 2021. One can't have attended the MIAM before the 26 March 2021 and the other after the 26th. Can both parties to the family mediation receive a voucher? The £500 mediation voucher is per family and may not cover the total cost of the mediation sessions as your mediation costs will depend on your choice of family mediator and the number of mediation  sessions that you require. The voucher is paid direct to the mediator, rather than given to either party to the mediation to use to pay the mediator’s bill. The £500 mediation voucher is inclusive of vat. Is there a financial eligibility cap for the mediation voucher? There are no financial eligibility criteria for the family mediation voucher. Anyone who meets the MIAM date and mediation subject criteria may be able to secure a £500 mediation voucher to cover or contribute towards their mediation costs. Who pays for family mediation if a mediation voucher isn’t available? If you can't secure a family mediation voucher because: One of you attended a MIAM before the 26 March 2021 or You are mediating on a financial settlement only and there are no childcare issues to mediate or The mediation voucher scheme runs out of funds or For any other reason. Then the usually the mediator will check if either one of you is eligible for legal aid to cover the cost of mediation. If neither of you are eligible for mediation legal aid then you will need to agree on how the mediation sessions will be funded. You can either agree to share the mediation costs equally or come to another agreement, such as that one of you will pay for the mediation sessions or that the mediation sessions will be paid for out of your joint savings account. Even if you do secure a £500 mediation voucher, if you go to a number of mediation sessions the voucher may not the total mediation cost. That’s why it is best to agree on how you will share any mediation cost in excess of the £500 voucher. [related_posts] Does the mediation voucher cover the cost of mediation support? The mediation voucher doesn’t cover the cost of mediation support from a divorce solicitor. However, mediation support can be very cost effective. Taking legal advice before and/or after mediation sessions can help you understand: Your legal options, such as the type of court application that you could commence or your former partner could start. The likely range of orders that a court could make if you or your former partner started court proceedings. The potential costs of applying for a court order or responding to a court application and the timescale for completion of the court proceedings. The impact of any issues raised in mediation. For example, financial disclosure issues raised during the mediation process where you are trying to reach a financial settlement. Whether proposals put forward in mediation are within the range of orders that a family court would be likely to make if either you or your ex-partner were to start family law court proceedings. Legal advice on any aspects that are making it hard to reach a compromise in mediation. For example, if one of you believes that you have a legal right to equal parenting or one of you believes that an inheritance or a pension isn’t relevant to any financial settlement discussions. The legal process to sort out your divorce or to draft a separation agreement or to secure a financial court order or draw up a parenting plan and the legal status of a financial court order or parenting plan. By receiving mediation support and getting the legal advice you need during the mediation process you may be more likely to have the confidence to reach a mediated agreement. Evolve Family Law can help you with independent specialist family law advice before and after mediation to support and guide you, including advice on any of the post-mediation documentation that may be necessary. We are Divorce and Family Law Solicitors For legal help with your divorce and mediation support for your financial settlement or childcare arrangements call us or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire and Whitefield, North Manchester but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

In this article, private client and Will solicitor, Chris Strogen, looks at what types of assets are subject to probate. What is probate? Probate is the legal term used for sorting out the financial affairs of the deceased after someone has died. In essence, probate gives the persons dealing with the deceased’s estate the legal authority to sell assets and pay debt and distribute the estate to the beneficiaries of the Will. If you appoint a private client solicitor in your Will as your executor and trustee they will still need to apply for probate in the same way as if you appoint a family member or friend as your executor. Probate is designed to protect your estate and to make sure that the estate passes to the people named in your Will and only those authorised to do so in your Will (or a solicitor appointed on their behalf) can action the requesting of probate and then administer probate. Is probate always necessary? Probate isn’t always necessary. For example, if the estate is very small and the estate doesn’t comprise of property or land, you may not need to obtain a grant of probate. It is best to ask a specialist probate solicitor if a grant of probate will be needed and how long it will take to secure probate. [related_posts] What assets are subject to probate? When a person dies their assets are referred to as their ‘estate’. The vast majority of assets are subject to probate. However, some assets may fall outside the estate and therefore not form part of probate. For example , a life insurance policy or pension may not form part of probate, depending on the wording. If assets were jointly owned by the deceased and another person then they may not form part of the grant of probate if the property was owned by the deceased and the co-owner as ‘joint tenants’. That’s because if a property is owned as joint tenants, on the death of the first co-owner the property passes to the surviving owner. This is referred to as the ‘right of survivorship’. The property therefore does not pass by the Will and accordingly doesn’t form part of probate. The situation is different if property or land is owned by co-owners as ‘tenants in common’. When making a Will it is important to understand the different types of legal ownership of property and land so you can make the best decision for you on whether to buy as joint tenants or tenants in common and the legal implications of doing so. If you bought a property with a co-owner and want to convert your joint ownership from tenants in common to a joint tenancy or from a joint tenancy to tenants in common, then it is possible to do so. If an estate includes assets that are overseas, such as a holiday home, it is best to take specialist legal advice on whether those assets will form part of probate. What do you do if an asset is subject to probate? If an asset is relevant to probate then it will form part of the estate for the grant of probate. It is the grant of probate that gives the executors (or the probate solicitors appointed by them) the power to: Discharge any inheritance tax due. Inform banks and other relevant institutions about the death and close any accounts. Sell or transfer assets, such as listed shares, a property or land or shares in a family business. Sort out any leases, such as leases of land or farm or equipment. Pay any debts. Distribute the remaining estate in accordance with the Will. We are Manchester & Cheshire Probate Solicitors For legal help with probate or with a Will or estate planning call Chris Strogen at Evolve Family Law or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire and Whitefield, North Manchester but we also offer remote meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

One of the most emotive topics after a separation or divorce is whether the children should live with their mother or father. Other key questions are whether the care of the children should be shared equally, and if the children are going to live with their mother, how often can the father see his child or children. In this blog, children law solicitor Louise Halford examines the law on child contact after a separation or divorce and answers your question ‘how often can a father see his child?’ Do children always stay with their mothers after a separation or divorce? It used to be the case that after a separation or divorce most children lived with their mother and the father had contact. In many families that remains the position. However, instead of it always being assumed that a child will live with their mother nowadays all options are on the table, including the child living with his or her father and the child having contact with the mother or a shared care arrangement. It isn’t so much that the law has changed but societal attitudes and working practices have changed. For a long time, the court has focussed on what children law order is in the best interests of the child when determining child custody and contact applications. When, in the past, a father traditionally went out to work and the mother was a housewife or worked part-time, it was often thought best that a child should continue to live with the primary care giver or the parent who was available to meet their day-to-day needs. With both parents now often working full-time or with a father being able to work from home, the best interests of the child may be best served by the child living with their father or a shared care arrangement. Is a father entitled to shared care if he wants to co-parent his child after a separation or divorce? Although much is written in the media about shared parenting being the norm or ideal, neither a mother or father is ‘entitled’ to share the care of their child after a separation or divorce. That’s because if parents can't agree on the childcare arrangements for their child and the court is asked to make a child arrangement order, the court will assess what order is in the child’s best interests. Shared care (whether that is an exactly equal split of time or a sixty-forty split of time or other percentage) may be the best option for the child but not necessarily. For example, shared care may not be likely to work if: Parents don’t live, or are not intending to live, relatively close to one another to ensure that the child is able to get to school from both homes. The child prefers to have one home base, rather than moving between homes. One parent’s work commitments mean that if parenting was shared the reality is that the child would be looked after during that parent’s parenting time by professional carers or through use of school clubs. The parents don’t get on at all and won't cooperate over parenting, making frequent handovers for the child disruptive and distressing. Shared care can be the ideal but it isn’t practical for every family and therefore it is not in the best interests of every child whose parents separate or divorce. When looking at childcare arrangements it is best not to think of ‘entitlement’ but what arrangements are likely to meet your child’s needs. Most children experts say that spending an equal amount of time with a child isn’t the key to successful parenting but ensuring that the time you do spend with your children is ‘quality ’ time. For time to be quality time it doesn’t have to be expensive outings, but being able to set aside time to read with younger children, help with homework, or transport to football practice or ballet club or just talking and taking an interest in what your children are doing at school or when they are with their other parent. [related_posts] How often can a father see his child? Fathers often want to know the worst-case and best-case scenarios of how often they will be able to see their child after a separation or divorce. So much depends on your personal circumstances.  For example, contact will be restricted if a mother successfully applies for a relocation order to enable her to move overseas with the child or contact will be more limited if a father has to move to a new area in the UK because of his work commitments. Many parents agree to split the week so children get to spend a roughly equal amount of time with each parent. For other families, the better option is for a child to live with one parent during the week and have midweek and alternate weekend contact. Contact with the child every weekend would mean that the residential parent of a school age child would not get to spend any quality time with the child. There is therefore no set rule about how often a father can see his child. That can be frustrating for some fathers who want certainty after a separation or divorce but not having set rules means that parents can work out what child contact arrangements or co-parenting works best for their family or the court can be asked to make a child arrangement order after assessing what is best for your child rather than following a fixed formula. We are Manchester and Cheshire Children Law Solicitors If you need help with your separation or divorce or representation in a child arrangements order application call us or complete our online enquiry form. Evolve Family Law offices are in Whitefield, North Manchester and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire but our children law solicitors offer meetings by telephone appointment or video call.

For those who have decided to separate or divorce, either because of COVID-19 related pressures or the global pandemic has reinforced the decision to go your separate ways, the next step is for one of you to move out of the family home. You should not permanently leave the family home without first taking legal advice. However, as Manchester and Cheshire divorce solicitors we are receiving an increasing number of enquiries where neither the husband nor wife can easily move out of the family home. Enquirers want to know if they can be legally separated and live in the same house as their estranged spouse.​ What is a legal separation? A legal separation is where a husband and wife obtain a decree of judicial separation from the family court. If you haven’t heard of judicial separation it isn’t surprising as applications for judicial separation are rare because: If you obtain a judicial separation you will still need to get divorced at a later stage, for example, if you want to remarry or if you want a clean break financial court order preventing any further financial claims between husband and wife. You don’t need a legal separation for official purposes. You can just tell agencies, such as the Inland Revenue or the Local Authority, that you are separated. Do I need a legal separation? People often assume that they need a legal separation or judicial separation decree, but they don’t unless they have a religious or cultural objection to a divorce and want to formalise their separation. If you plan to get divorced later, you don’t need a judicial separation first as you can sort out your financial affairs by signing a separation agreement. Can you separate and live in the same house? You can separate or even divorce and still live in the same house. Some couples think that if they continue to live together, they can't get divorced but that isn’t correct. Under current English divorce law, you can get divorced if you have lived ‘separate and apart’ for two years provided your husband or wife consents to the divorce. It is best to take some legal advice about the grounds for divorce proceedings as you may not need to wait two years before being able to start divorce proceedings. Living separate and apart in the same household, for the purposes of divorce proceedings, means that there must be a degree of separation between husband and wife. For example, you can't cook for one another or do the other person’s laundry or ironing or shopping. Separating and your spouse won't leave the family home. If you have taken the decision to separate and your husband or wife won't leave the family home then if things become impossible in the one house there are options, such as: An application for an injunction order – an occupation order can give you the right to occupy the family home to the exclusion of your partner until long term ownership or sale of the property is determined by agreement between you or by the court in divorce and financial settlement proceedings. An application for spousal maintenance so that you can afford to leave the family home and rent somewhere until long term ownership or sale of the family home is decided. It is best to take specialist legal advice from a divorce solicitor before leaving the family home and moving into rented accommodation. [related_posts] Separating and can't sell the family home. Most people would agree that it is a tricky housing market so whilst you may have decided to separate or divorce you may not be able to sell the family home. You can be separated or divorced and still be living at the family home though for some it won't be a very comfortable experience. Even in the best situations where you are splitting up amicably it can still feel as if you are in limbo with your life suspended until you can achieve the sale of the family home. One thing that can reduce the stress of waiting for the sale of the family home is to have a financial agreement in place so you know who will get what when the property does sell. Although you may have concerns about having to drop the sale price on the family home, a fair financial settlement can still be reached if you don’t agree to accept a fixed amount from the sale proceeds but instead you each agree to receive a percentage of the net proceeds of sale. That way you are both protected, whether house values move up or down. In divorce proceedings a financial settlement can be reached by agreement or after financial settlement proceedings but in either scenario you should obtain a financial court order that records how all your assets will be divided, including the equity in the family home, savings, and pension provision. If you are separated but don’t want to start divorce proceedings yet it is still best to record the financial settlement that you have agreed to avoid one of you changing your mind about how much you should get from the sale proceeds when you have found a buyer for the house. A document, called a separation agreement, should be prepared to formalise the agreement reached. We are Manchester and Cheshire divorce solicitors The team of specialist divorce solicitors at Evolve Family Law can help you with your separation and divorce proceedings, as well as child custody and contact and your financial settlement. For advice on your family and private client law needs call us or complete our online enquiry form.   The Evolve Family Law offices are in Whitefield, North Manchester and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire but we also offer remote meetings by appointment by video call or telephone.