Divorce and family law - overview
If you are planning cohabitation, marriage or a civil partnership, you should consider potential legal issues if one of you dies or you separate.
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If you are planning cohabitation, marriage or a civil partnership, you should consider potential legal issues if one of you dies or you separate.
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
How to register a civil partnership, financial affairs and children for civil partners, and how a civil partnership can be brought to an end
Key issues for cohabiting partners, including using a cohabitation agreement to protect yourselves, what to cover and whether it will be enforceable
How moving in together affects your legal position. The rights and responsibilities of cohabiting couples and what happens if the relationship ends
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
Information your divorce lawyer will need; a checklist to help you prepare
How to use family mediation to help you reach agreement with your partner or ex-partner over children, finances or other key issues
Where to get free legal advice to help you with divorce and family law – and the pitfalls to look out for
How to get the right advice from your divorce lawyer without unnecessary cost: being organised and patient, compromising and managing your emotions
Whether you need a prenuptial agreement, what to cover, how to prepare your prenup and what effect a prenup has if you do get divorced
Key questions on restraining orders and injunctions answered, helping explain the different options and how to go about getting an injunction
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
How to use a consent order to make a divorce settlement legally binding. What to include, the court application and whether you can change it later
Divorce settlement FAQs – your questions answered from when to agree a financial settlement to agreeing maintenance payments and sharing out assets
How to apply for a financial order when you and your partner have failed to agree a divorce financial settlement between yourselves
The most common divorce forms used for the divorce, financial settlements and childcare arrangements – what they are and where to find them
When DIY divorce is a realistic option; how to deal with the divorce itself, finances and children; and what help you can get if you need it
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
Organise your finances in the event of your separation or divorce
Who has parental responsibility, how to get a parental responsibility agreement or order, and financial responsibility for step-children
Common relationship problems, what you can expect from marriage guidance and other sources of relationship advice, and where to find the help you need
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
Key stages in the divorce process, from the divorce petition through the decree nisi to the decree absolute that finally ends the marriage
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