Divorce

When you are going through a separation or divorce you need to know what you are likely to end up with as your divorce financial settlement. Without that information, or at least a broad idea of what you might reasonably expect to get, you may find the whole process of separating and getting divorced that much more traumatic. In this blog, our family law solicitors answer your questions on whether you will get half in a divorce financial settlement and explain why some people may end up with more or less than half. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form. Does everyone get half the assets when they divorce? There is no guarantee that you will get half the assets when you divorce. You may get less than half or you may get more than half. Every family is different and although the court starts from the premise that assets should be shared equally there are many reasons why a financial court order might be made that does not equally divide the assets and money equally between husband and wife. Who decides if you get half the assets? In an ideal world, you will reach a financial agreement with your separated husband or wife after having spoken to a family law solicitor or you will ask the solicitor to negotiate an agreement for you. Another alternative is to go to family mediation and reach an agreement in mediation. If you reach an agreement your financial settlement then needs to be converted into an agreed financial court order as part of the no-fault divorce proceedings. If it is impossible to reach an agreement with your ex-spouse then either you or they can apply to the family court for a financial settlement. After financial disclosure and a series of court directions hearings, a final hearing will take place where the judge will hear evidence from each of you. The court will then make a binding financial court order. The court will decide what percentage of the assets you will get based on statutory criteria and case law. As well as deciding whether you will get half the value of the family assets the court can decide if the family home should be sold or if you should get to keep the house but not get to receive a share of your spouse’s pension or the value of their investments or shares in the family business. There are normally many different ways in which a judge can split assets equally between husband and wife. Who works out what half is in a divorce financial settlement? Your husband or wife may tell you that they want to keep things amicable and split the money and property equally but to do that fairly you may need assets to be independently valued.  For example, if your spouse says that you can keep the family home you need to know how much equity there is in the property if your spouse’s financial proposals are based on them keeping their pension or their shares in the family business. You will also need to know the true value of your spouse’s pension fund or the value of the family business. To get an accurate valuation of assets you may need to instruct a surveyor, pension actuary or forensic accountant to carry out valuations. If assets are not accurately valued then you may not end up with half unless your agreement says every single asset will be sold and the money divided equally rather than some assets being retained by one of you as part of the negotiated deal or financial court order. [related_posts] Could I get more than half the property and assets? There are some scenarios where you could receive more than half the money and property as your divorce financial settlement. For example: If you signed a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement that said you would get to keep more of the assets and the court thought it was fair to uphold the prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement in its entirety or partially You owned a house or pension or family business before your marriage, the marriage is relatively short and your spouse can have their reasonable needs met without having to share all or some of your pre-marriage owned assets You agree to receive more than half the assets but the deal is that you do not get ongoing spousal maintenance as your spouse is getting less than their half share of the property or other assets You are the main carer of the children and you need more than 50% of the total asset pot to buy a new home for the children taking into account your reasonable housing needs and your mortgage capacity Your spouse received an inheritance during the marriage and their housing or other needs can be met by using this inheritance whilst you need more than half of the family assets to meet your needs Should I argue that I want half the assets as my divorce financial settlement? A family law solicitor will tell you if you have a good case to get half or more than half the family assets as your divorce financial settlement. You can then decide whether it is worth the time and the potential legal fees of going to court and asking a judge to make a financial court order in your favour if your spouse will not agree to your requested financial settlement. You may decide that it is best to compromise and reach a negotiated financial settlement or come to the view that as your estranged spouse is being so unreasonable about financial disclosure and the financial settlement that you have no alternative to ask the court to order that you get half the assets as your divorce financial settlement. Your best option is to talk to a family law solicitor so you understand your rights and options to help you reach a fair divorce financial settlement. For expert family law advice call our team for an appointment or complete our online enquiry form.

Parental alienation is one of those topics that parents feel embarrassed to talk about. If you are being prevented from seeing your child after a separation or divorce you may be worried that family, friends and colleagues will judge you assuming you must be the one at fault if you cannot get to see your child. At Evolve Family Law our solicitors are experts in child arrangement order applications involving allegations of alienating behaviour. If you are being stopped from seeing your child our family law solicitors can help you sort out post-separation parenting arrangements for your child or enforce a child arrangement order if your ex-partner still will not let you see your child. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form. Are you to blame for parental alienation? Lots of people assume that if parental alienation has taken place the parent who is not having contact with their child must have done something ‘’bad’’. However, the definition of parental alienation is one parent turning the mind of a child against the other parent and the child’s negative view of the parent is not justified by any parental behaviour. Instead, the child is being alienated from one parent by the other parent’s deliberate or unintentional psychological manipulation of the child. How to deal with parental alienation Sometimes it is obvious to everyone involved with a child, from family to schoolteachers and health professionals, that parental alienation is taking place. In other families, the process is more subtle but just as insidious. For parents who fear parental alienation is taking place there are some tips on how to deal with parental alienation and maintain a relationship with your child. We recommend that you:  Take legal advice quickly If you think, your ex-partner or former husband or wife is talking inappropriately about you in front of your child it is important to act quickly.  If you wait then the situation may get to the stage that the child is so alienated that they say that they do not want to have contact with you. If you are not able to speak to your former partner directly then you could try speaking to a family member or you could suggest a referral to family mediation or family counselling. If those options do not solve the difficulties, do not delay in taking legal advice and looking at the option of applying for a child arrangements order. If you delay in acting then if the parental alienation behaviour continues it will become harder to resolve the situation and repair the psychological damage experienced by your child. Do not blame the child It is normal to think ‘’my daughter is behaving just like her mother’’ or to say ‘’the apple does not fall far from the tree’’. When a child is playing up or refusing to speak to or see you, it is easy to transfer your frustration with the situation onto the child. After all, why can’t your child stand up for themselves and demand more contact with you or why can’t they at least look cheerful when they do see you? As frustrating as it is, blaming a child or showing your exasperation with the situation is likely to make the situation worse. Do not blame the parent When you get frustrated about parental alienation, it is easy to think that the solution is to tell your side of the story. In the process, you are likely to denigrate the other parent. Taking that approach is likely to make your child more insecure and anxious, and less inclined to have contact. Do not walk away The statistics of how many parents lose contact with their children after a separation or divorce are appalling. Many of those cases do not involve parental alienation but it is sometimes easy to think that your child would be ‘’better off’’ without you. Most children law professionals believe that a child needs and deserves a loving relationship with both parents, even if that has to be achieved through the making of a child arrangements order. Find time for other things in your life If you experience parental alienation, it is easy to obsess over your ex-partner and their behaviour. By doing that you can play into their hands. It is important that you find time to enjoy other aspects of your life during any children court proceedings. [related_posts] What will the court do if it thinks that alienating behaviour is taking place? If you make an application for a child arrangement order the court will carefully consider whether contact is in your child’s best interests. If a child is saying that they do not want contact because of parental alienation, the court can take some proactive steps to try to help you rebuild a relationship with your child. In extreme situations, where a judge finds that the alienating behaviour has caused emotional harm and that the primary carer does not understand the damage created by their actions, the judge can make an order to change the primary carer of the child. How can Evolve Family Law help you? Evolve Family Law is a specialist family law firm with offices in Cheshire and Whitefield, Manchester. Whatever your children or family law concern, Louise Halford and the children law team at Evolve Family Law solicitors will work with you to help you reach a solution. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.

Planning Together for Children is the name of a course run by the organisation CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support) for separated or divorced parents.    In this blog, our children law solicitors look at the Planning Together for Children course and explain your options if you are a separated parent struggling to reach an agreement with your ex-partner on post-separation parenting arrangements for your children.  For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.   Planning Together for Children has replaced the Separated Parents Information Programme (SPIP) If your friends have told you that after they separated from their spouse, they went on a SPIP (or Separated Parents Information Programme) then you need to be aware that the Planning Together for Children has replaced the SPIP.  Can you use the Planning Together for Children resource? Access to the Planning Together for Children resource is limited to those parents and carers who are ordered by a family court judge to attend the course or who are referred to the course by a Family Court Advisor in children law court proceedings.  You therefore cannot access the online E-learning resources or attend the Parenting Together for Children workshop if you are a separated parent who is looking for information to help you reach an agreement about the parenting arrangements for your children. Nor can you use the resource if you are struggling with sharing parenting responsibilities with your ex-partner but neither of you has applied to the court for a child arrangement order, prohibited steps order, specific issue order or relocation order.  Options if you cannot use the Planning Together for Children resource If you want help in parenting together after separation there are a lot of useful books and online resources. If you need help with family dynamics speaking to a family therapist or counsellor may help as they may be able to assist you both in understanding the priorities of the other parent and help you focus on the best interests of your child when reaching a compromise about shared care, contact arrangements or parenting styles.  If you are struggling to reach an agreement about parenting after a separation or divorce you may not need to apply to court for a child arrangement order as you may be able to reach an agreement through:  Solicitor round table meeting  Solicitor negotiations  Family mediation   Once you have reached an agreement it is a good idea to record what you have agreed in a parenting plan. These types of plans need to be reviewed as your child grows up or circumstances change. For example, if your child wants to go to football sessions on a Saturday or ballet on a Wednesday after school or if one parent has to move house out of the area because of a job move.  You might also be interested in:   [related_posts] A Planning Together for Children referral If you are ordered by a judge to attend the Planning Together for Children course or a Family Court Advisor makes a request to the court for a referral there is no charge for accessing the online resources or going to the workshop.  Whilst you may not be a fan of e-learning or workshops it is important to try and get as much as possible from the course to give you the best shot possible of reaching an agreement with your ex-partner or being able to tell the family judge that you did so.  If you do not go to a Planning Together for Children course when ordered to do so by a judge the court may reorder your attendance on the course. This may delay your court application. Any delay or refusal to attend may make it less likely that the court will make the type of child arrangement order you are seeking.  What does the Planning Together for Children course cover? The e-learning section of the course will look at matters such as:   What happens if you go ahead with the child arrangement order or specific issue order court application?   How a separation and how you handle the separation can affect your child   Conflict and its impact on your child     Looking at the family situation from your child’s perspective   Supportive co-parenting – what it is and how it works   Communication skills to help you listen to your child and co-parent    Once the e-learning section is completed you move on to a workshop. This will normally take place online. Although the workshop is normally held online there are never more than 6 parents in a workshop group. Your ex-partner will not be in the same workshop as you.  The workshop focuses on the negative impact of parental conflict on children, how best to manage conflict and how to improve communication with your child and ex-partner so you can effectively co-parent.  The course will encourage you to discuss and agree on a parenting plan for your child to set out the residence, contact and other important care details for your child to avoid the need for you or your ex-partner to go ahead with your child arrangement order application.  How can Evolve Family Law help you? At Evolve Family Law all our family law solicitors are committed to resolving parenting disputes outside of court wherever possible. For example, through providing legal support during family mediation or helping you negotiate a parenting plan. Reaching an agreement is not always possible. For example, if you fear child abduction as your ex-partner has threatened to take your child overseas or if your ex-spouse is displaying alienating behaviour and refusing to let you see your child, or if you are concerned about contact arrangement because of a history of domestic violence.  Our family law solicitors will listen carefully to your needs and priorities and help you secure the agreement or court order you need for your children.   For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.    

Evolve divorce solicitors can confirm that you can get divorced online with us. However, many of our North West family law clients like to pop into one of our offices in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire or North Manchester to meet their divorce solicitor face-to-face.  The decision is yours to make – whether you are divorcing online or meeting with us at our offices you get a named divorce solicitor to handle your no-fault divorce and to answer any queries. Of course, you get the same level of excellent client service whether you decide to meet with us or not.  If you need help with applying for a no-fault divorce call our team or complete our online enquiry form.   The no-fault divorce   With the introduction of no-fault divorce proceedings, the divorce process in England became a bit more streamlined. Sadly, the divorce timescales have not speeded up as you are still looking at around 7 months from the start of your divorce application until you get your final order of divorce.  The process and timeframe are the same whether you are applying purely online or after meeting with your divorce solicitor. It takes around 7 months to get divorced because the law imposes time delays on how quickly you can finalise your divorce. Our divorce solicitors understand that these delays are frustrating when you know your own mind and you do not want to back track on your decision to divorce your husband or wife.  The good thing about the no-fault divorce process is that you can choose to apply jointly for a divorce with your husband or wife. There is no requirement to do so. Whether you apply as a sole divorce applicant or jointly with your husband or wife the divorce process is very similar. In addition, even if your spouse does not agree to the divorce there are very limited ways to oppose the divorce.  [related_posts] Why see a divorce solicitor if you can divorce online?   ‘Why see a divorce solicitor if you can divorce online?’ is a good question. There are many different reasons why you may want to meet us in person. For example, your divorce is an immensely distressing personal experience for you and you do not want to feel like a ‘number’. Alternatively, you may feel confident about Evolve Family Law handling your no-fault divorce online but you want to meet with a specialist family law solicitor to discuss the parenting, custody and contact arrangements for your children or the potential financial settlement.  Sometimes nothing beats sitting down with your family law solicitor to understand your legal options and to work out the solution that works best for you and your family. It may be that you are comfortable having discussions online after a first meeting or that you need the reassurance of a face-to-face meeting to help you make some of the most important decisions that will affect your life and that of your children. For example, will the care of the children be shared by co-parenting or will the children reside with you? Will you keep the family home or should you agree to the sale of the property and to the making of a pension sharing order? Should you agree to a clean break financial court order and what would that type of court order mean for your family if you lost your job and could not return to work?    A personal online divorce   Whether you instruct us online or in person we provide a personal and professional divorce service.  At Evolve Family Law we recognise that every client and family is different. That is why we discuss with you how you want us to work for you. It could be online, email, phone, in person or even using old-fashioned post. We aim to find the divorce process that is the least stressful for you.   How much does a divorce cost?  If you apply for a no-fault divorce as a sole applicant or jointly with your spouse, we can provide a fixed-fee divorce service.  We offer a range of other fixed-fee services. For more information on our fees Download Our Price Guide.  If you need help with applying for a no-fault divorce call our team or complete our online enquiry form. 

If you got married in an Islamic wedding ceremony in the UK or overseas, are you treated as legally married in England? Can you get divorced in the UK?  The divorce solicitors at Evolve Family Law answer your questions on Islamic marriage and divorce in the UK.  For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.   Islamic marriage in the UK  Whether your Nikah is classed as a legal marriage and recognised in English family law depends on where and how the marriage took place.  A Nikah that took place in the UK is not treated as a legal marriage unless there was also a valid UK civil ceremony. If you had a Nikah in the UK without a civil ceremony it is best to check with a family law solicitor to see if you are legally married or not under English law. It is important to check this out and, if necessary, get married legally under UK law. That’s because if you are not legally married under English family law you do not have the financial rights and claims of a husband or wife but of an unmarried partner.  If your Nikah took place overseas you are treated as legally married in the UK provided the country where you got married treats Islamic marriages or Nikahs as legally valid. That means you do not need to have a civil wedding ceremony in the UK as you are already legally married.  Family law solicitors acknowledge that the UK family law on the validity of Islamic marriages can be confusing.  The English court does have the power to declare that you are legally married if there is a dispute but it is best to avoid declaration proceedings unless there is no alternative. For example, if your spouse is denying your marriage and your financial claims as a spouse.  Divorce in the UK   If you are legally married and you want to get divorced you can apply for a no-fault divorce. If your wedding was a Nikah under Sharia law and it took place in England without a civil marriage then you won't need to apply for a no-fault divorce as you are not treated in English law as legally married. You may want to get divorced under Sharia law.  If you thought you were married then it may be worth checking out if you can get a declaration of marriage. That is because:  Under Sharia law your financial  claims may be limited  In English law, if you are not legally married, your financial claims as an unmarried husband or wife are limited to property rights and claims under trust law. Instead of being able to claim half the assets you may be able to claim nothing or very little in comparison to the sort of financial settlement a husband or wife might expect the family court to order as a financial court order   [related_posts] The financial claims of an unmarried partner    If your marriage is not legally recognised in the UK, you can potentially make 2 types of claims, depending on whether you have children with your partner.  Under Schedule 1 of the Children Act, you can bring court proceedings for an order to provide your children with a home to live in whilst they are of school age. The ownership of the house will then revert to your partner. You can also ask the court for a lump sum to meet the financial needs of your children and to make a top-up child support order if your partner is a high earner. The Child Maintenance Service may also be able to award you child support.  Whether or not you have children you may be able to make a claim under The Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA). You can bring a TOLTA claim if your partner owns a property jointly with you or if they own a property in their sole name but you can evidence that you have what is referred to as a beneficial interest in the property owned by your partner.  Get expert family law legal advice   It is essential that you take expert legal advice on the status of your marriage from specialist family law solicitors. That’s because if your Nikah is a valid marriage (or you can secure a declaration of marriage) you may be able to secure a financial settlement including spousal maintenance, a share in property, savings, a family business or a pension sharing order.    For expert family law advice complete our online enquiry form.  

On 22 November 2023 the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, unveiled plans that could eventually give pension holders one pension pot for life.  Accountants and independent financial advisors are all questioning how easy it will be to bring in the scheme for UK workers. However, family law solicitors at Evolve Family Law are delighted by the news because if the proposals are implemented it will make it easier and cheaper for divorcing couples to share pensions as part of their financial settlement.  For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.   Pensions – the forgotten asset in divorce proceedings     When you separate or start divorce proceedings you also need to reach a fair financial settlement with your estranged husband or wife to divide and share your assets.   You will not forget the existence of the family home or a shareholding in the family business but you may forget to disclose an old pension and your husband or wife may not realise that you have 2 or more pensions.   The Pensions Policy Institute estimates that the total value of lost pension pots was almost £27 billion in 2022. That is not surprising with so many people moving jobs and homes and not keeping records. It is also equally unsurprising that pensions get forgotten in divorce proceedings.   The Fair Shares project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, provided information and data on divorcing couples. Their recent research highlights that about a third of divorcees did not know the value of their pension fund and only a tenth of pension pots that were not in payment were made the subject of pension sharing orders.    The research information from the Fair Share Project emphasises the need for divorcing couples to understand the value of pension pots and how they should not be ignored in divorce financial settlements.  Pension pots and financial disclosure in financial settlement negotiations  If you do not disclose an asset when providing divorce financial disclosure, including a pension, your husband or wife may be able to ask the court to review the terms of a financial court order years later because of the non-disclosure.   It is therefore essential to provide full financial disclosure even if you have several small pension pots from employment prior to your marriage.  Think how much easier it would be for divorcing couples and their family law solicitors if a husband and wife each only had one pension fund. Now a husband and wife can each have 5 or more pensions, all of which need to be disclosed and valued as part of the financial settlement negotiations.  The portable pension pot  The chancellor is proposing one pension pot that an employee takes with them when they change their employment. Whilst employers and pension providers are already flagging up the complexities of portable pension funds family law solicitors can only see the advantages.  With numerous small pension pots, it takes time for pensions to be disclosed and valued as part of divorce financial settlement negotiations. When pension pots are small a husband or wife can be encouraged to ignore their value because the pensions are ‘’not worth the hassle’’. That is often not the case but spouses can be persuaded to ignore them.  Even if a small pension is disclosed and valued a husband or wife may be told that it is uneconomic to share the pension because the pension administrators will charge to implement a pension sharing order.  [related_posts] The lifetime pension pot   The Treasury will be asking for evidence on the “lifetime provider” pension model rather than adopting a policy of portable pensions straight away. It is likely to be some time before the consultation starts and even longer before further pension reforms are made.  Until we get to the age of the lifetime pension pot it is essential to disclose all your pension pots when getting divorced and to understand your pension options when negotiating a divorce financial settlement.  Pension sharing orders   The family court can make a financial court order that includes a pension sharing order. The pension administrator will need to implement the pension sharing order once they are served with the financial court order, pension sharing annex and the final order of divorce.  If the value of a pension is small then it may be uneconomic to share all the pensions. Instead, your family law solicitor may suggest that you get a 100% share of one pension pot rather than pay a pension admin fee to share each pension. That may work for you provided that the pensions are valued correctly. For example, the transfer value of a private pension pot may be the same as a final salary scheme pension but the eventual pension returns may be very different. That’s why you need specialist input from a divorce solicitor and pension actuary or advisor.  A pension sharing order is not your only option. You could agree to offset the value of pensions so you get more from the equity in the family home or you get to keep all your pensions but your spouse gets to keep their savings.  Get help with your divorce financial settlement   Evolve Family Law provides a fixed fee no-fault divorce service and offers a relationship breakdown consultation for a fixed fee to discuss your relationship breakdown and offer initial guidance.  Our ‘relationship breakdown comprehensive initial review’ is priced at £300 inclusive of VAT. It covers one meeting with a qualified lawyer and an assessment of the best routes to resolving your situation.   If you want to know where to start with your separation or divorce or your divorce financial settlement our specialist divorce solicitors can help.  For information on our fixed fees and pricing have a look at Our Prices | Standard Fixed Fees.  For friendly expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.  

As specialist North West family law solicitors we were interested to read the report from the Fair Shares Project. The Fair Shares project was funded by the Nuffield Foundation. It aims to provide information and data on divorcing couples so lawyers and legislative reformers understand how the current family law system is operating. Divorce solicitor, Robin Charrot, looks at the key research findings and outlines the options to reach a fair divorce financial settlement. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form. The Fair Shares Project research highlights The Fair Shares Project aimed to discover information about the financial and property arrangements made by divorcing couples. The 5 key statistical takeouts from the report are: One in 10 couples in England and Wales did not take advice with their divorce Only 2 out of 5 divorcees made use of family lawyers for advice and support. (That means 60% of divorcees didn’t have the help of a family law solicitor)   Around a third of divorcees did not know the value of their pension fund. (If they did not know the value of their own pension asset it is unlikely that they discovered the value of their spouse’s pension pot) Only one in 10 divorcees with a pension fund that was not paying a pension at the time of the financial settlement agreed to a pension-sharing order as part of the divorce financial settlement. (In most families the value of the pension pot of the husband or wife can be the asset with the most significant value. It all depends on the amount of equity in the family home and whether a spouse has a final salary pension). Only around a third of those getting divorced with assets to share with each other split their assets equally. (The family court starts from the premise that assets should be shared equally unless there are cogent reasons to depart from equality. For example, it may be appropriate that a husband or wife gets less than half if it is a short marriage or where the husband and wife signed a prenuptial agreement before their marriage) The research information from the Fair Share Project will concern divorce financial settlement solicitors as it appears to show that financial settlements are being made without the benefit of legal advice and that they are not fair and potentially do not meet a spouse’s reasonable needs. It is normally the wife who suffers by not getting expert legal advice or through not obtaining financial disclosure from her husband as statistically the wife is often the financially weaker spouse in comparison to the husband. Often that’s because she is the one working part-time because of childcare responsibilities or the one who took a career break to prioritise the children’s needs. [related_posts] How to reach a fair divorce financial settlement People can be wary of calling a divorce solicitor for a variety of reasons, such as: Worry about the costs Concern that a divorce solicitor will suck you into contested financial court proceedings and you would be better off negotiating your own divorce financial settlement Does it make financial sense to talk to a divorce solicitor? Would you buy a family home without a survey? Would you rewire your home if you do not have any training as an electrician? If the answer to either of those questions is no then you get the picture. It can be equally dangerous, from a financial point of view, to agree a divorce financial settlement without first taking legal advice. At Evolve Family Law we offer some fixed-fee services and we are always upfront about costs. As well as providing a fixed fee no-fault divorce service we also offer a relationship breakdown consultation for a fixed fee to discuss your relationship breakdown and offer guidance. Our ‘relationship breakdown comprehensive initial review’ is priced at £300 inclusive of VAT and it covers one meeting with a qualified lawyer regarding all the legal and practical aspects of your situation and an assessment of the best routes to resolving your situation. The consultation fee excludes follow-up work, such as starting no-fault divorce proceedings or writing to your husband or wife to seek financial disclosure or to explore their financial proposals. We can talk to you about potential additional costs when we meet so you can make an informed decision on the best way forward for you. Occasionally we may need to charge a higher fixed fee for an initial consultation. For example, if you want us to read a lot of complex paperwork before the meeting. If that is the case, we will tell you before the initial consultation. The objective of our initial consultation is to look at your options so you get preliminary information and support to help you on the path of negotiating a fair divorce financial settlement that meets your short-term and long-term needs. If you want us to check out a proposed divorce financial settlement and convert your agreement into a binding financial court order then we can do that for you for an additional fixed fee. For more information on our pricing look at Our Prices | Standard Fixed Fees. For information on amicable divorce using our one-lawyer service have a look at Amicable Divorce - One Lawyer Divorce. If you are attending family mediation sessions and would like information on your legal rights and options or on how to convert your mediated agreement into a binding financial court order our page on Mediation Support Solicitors may be of interest to you. For friendly expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.

You would think that people would know if they are married or not. It is however surprisingly common for either a husband or wife to ask the question ‘Are we married?’ Often the query crops up when a couple is separating or contemplating divorce proceedings. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form. Are you married? Most people would think that a quick look at the wedding photo album would be sufficient to answer the question of whether the couple is married or not but that isn’t necessarily right. One of the first questions for a family solicitor to ask is where the couple got married. If the ‘marriage’ took place in the UK the husband and wife may think that their ceremony of marriage means that they are legally wed. However, if the ceremony didn’t take place at a licensed venue or if the couple didn’t subsequently participate in a civil ceremony of marriage they may not be legally married in the UK. The scenario isn’t that uncommon as often the focus is on the religious marriage ceremony, which has the real meaning for the couple and their family and friends. That can leave those, for example, who have enjoyed a Muslim religious ceremony of marriage or those who married in a Wiccan ceremony not legally married. [related_posts] Marriages in unlicensed venues Most people won’t be surprised to hear that the law can step in and decide if a couple is married even if they didn’t comply with the UK legal requirements at the time of their marriage ceremony. A husband or wife can ask the court to declare that they are married if certain criteria are met. Invariably if declaration of marriage proceedings are started then either the husband or the wife is arguing that they aren’t legally married. That means there is a risk that the court will decide that the couple is not married. Why marriage matters If the court decides the couple isn’t married then there is no need for divorce proceedings. Importantly financial claims on separation will be limited as the husband and the wife won't be able to make claims against the other’s income or pension. The type of ‘marriage’ ceremony can therefore affect whether a couple is treated as married in the eyes of the law or legally viewed as cohabitees. In some cases that can mean the difference between getting half the house and the pension and maintenance and getting nothing as a cohabitee. Marriages that take place overseas If the ‘marriage’ took place abroad there is often an assumption that the couple aren’t legally married in the UK. That is often an incorrect assumption as provided that the marriage was recognised as legally valid in the country in which it took place it is normally accepted in the UK as a marriage. That means that if the couple is settled in the UK they can get divorced in the UK and the English court will decide on how their assets are divided, even though they got married at a chapel in Las Vegas, a beach in the Caribbean, or a religious ceremony in their country of origin or choice. These rules can throw up surprising results as the quickie marriage in the Las Vegas chapel may be a legally valid marriage in the UK whereas the well-photographed religious ceremony at an unlicensed venue may not be, even if attended by all of the couple’s family and friends. If you are contemplating marriage then there is no reason why you can’t have the wedding of your choice in either the UK or abroad, but if you are planning a religious ceremony or a wedding at an unusual venue or abroad it is sensible to check the status of the ceremony so both bride and groom know where they stand. For expert family law advice call our team or complete our online enquiry form.