We understand that Divorce and family breakdown is bewildering and probably the most stressful time in a person’s life. It is an unfortunate fact of life and a great deal of unhappiness is sometimes generated when there is mistrust or ill-advised behaviour. Often parties have unrealistic expectations of what they can achieve. That why we recommend that you seek legal advice at the preliminary stage of a marriage breakdown to ensure that are aware of all your options and what solutions can be realistically achieved for you. It is always sensible to try and reach agreement and resolve issues amicably particularly in relation to the arrangements for children. However this may not be so easy in the midst of high emotions and even where there is good communication and trust it can still be beneficial to obtain some basic advice at the outset. Having the knowledge about what the other spouse can or cannot do will help to reduce concerns you may have and therefore help to reduce any friction. Also you may need legal advice to secure occupancy of the matrimonial home, or protect and preserve assets e.g. to prevent abuse of joint account or borrowing on the matrimonial home. It is therefore very important to consult a solicitor as early as possible to confirm your legal rights and the steps, if any, that need to be taken to protect those rights.

Before you consult a solicitor we recommend you to read our pages and also some of the other websites mentioned on the Links page. This will focus your mind on issues that concern you and save time and thus legal fees when consulting a solicitor. We are not able on these pages to provide answers all your questions and problems but can only offer a general guidance on the most common issues in any case and advise you on procedure. Every case is different and you will need advice tailored to your particular situation but we hope that the contents of these pages offer some reassurance on basic matters to those going through a divorce.