Divorce and family law

If you are planning cohabitation, marriage or a civil partnership, you should consider potential legal issues if one of you dies or you separate.

Whatever your reasons for divorce, you need to show irretrievable marriage breakdown based on one of five grounds for divorce

Concerns about finances can make divorce even more stressful. Aim to negotiate a divorce settlement that provides for each of you and any dependents.

The best sources of help for relationship breakdown and divorce advice

What is involved in the divorce process, what you can agree between yourselves and when to involve solicitors and the Family Court

What you need to know about divorce and children, including child custody and child maintenance

An introduction to the legal rights and responsibilities arising from cohabitation and from civil partnerships

Divorce and children – answers to the most common questions about parents’ rights, childcare arrangements and child maintenance payments

Divorce glossary explaining divorce and family law terms in simple English to help you understand the legal jargon used by divorce lawyers

Divorce FAQs - your questions answered from what you need to prove to get a divorce to how the divorce process works

How to deal with domestic violence or domestic abuse, including both practical and legal steps you can take and where you can get help

Examples of typical financial settlements in different divorce situations: an average young family, a short marriage, a rich couple, an elderly couple

Agreeing the arrangements for your children: how child custody is decided, what rights the non-resident parent has and getting a court order

Where to get free legal advice to help you with divorce and family law – and the pitfalls to look out for

The differences between marriage annulment and divorce: ‘void’ and ‘voidable’ marriages and how to apply for a decree of nullity

When child maintenance is payable, how much child maintenance should be, making child maintenance arrangements and how to enforce payment

This calculator can help you work out how much child maintenance you might be liable to pay if you separate and have children to provide for

How to use a clean break settlement in a divorce to deal with your financial claims against each other once and for all

The most common divorce forms used for the divorce, financial settlements and childcare arrangements – what they are and where to find them

Nobody wants to pay unnecessary legal fees, but you also need to ask yourself whether getting divorced without using a lawyer would risk causing serious problems

Divorce costs explained: family court fees, mediation and legal costs, who pays the divorce costs and what help may be available towards your costs

Who has parental responsibility, how to get a parental responsibility agreement or order, and financial responsibility for step-children

The differences between separation, judicial separation and divorce, using a separation agreement and when you might need legal advice

Understanding when spousal maintenance should be part of a divorce financial settlement. How much, for how long, and when it can be changed

How the Child Maintenance Service works out and helps collect maintenance payments, and what is happening to old Child Support Agency cases

Mediation information and assessment meetings: when they are needed in childcare and financial arrangements disputes and what is involved