Financial Settlement
To be able to move forward with your life after divorce, you need to secure a fair financial settlement.
We know how important it is for you and your children’s future to have the funds required to purchase a home, have an adequate pension, pay for school fees, and retain the standard of living you enjoyed whilst you were married.
Based in Coventry city centre, our Family Law Solicitors will take the time to understand the result you want concerning your financial settlement and work tirelessly to achieve it.
We are a diverse, multi-lingual law firm, our specialist solicitors use best-in-class technology to provide clients with streamlined, modern, and highly effective family law advice and representation. Our years of experience in family law means we have a robust reputation for excellence with the UK’s best Barristers and King’s Counsel, Forensic Accountants, Independent Financial Advisers, Surveyors, Actuaries, and Counsellors who can bring additional support to our family law department if required. Our clients also benefit from our ability to instruct the country’s most respected expert witnesses.
Our family law ethos
Our Family Solicitors are members of Resolution, an organisation of family law professionals who believe a non-confrontational approach to financial settlement discussions produces better long term outcomes. Our team abides by Resolution’s Code of Practice and work to resolve financial settlement disputes through round table negotiation and mediation. However, if Court proceedings prove inevitable, you can trust that we will fight tenaciously to get the best possible results for you and your children.
Our highly intelligent and compassionate Solicitors have received training on dealing with the emotional impact of divorce and working out the financial settlement. If you are finding things difficult, we can refer you to support agencies and counsellors that can help you. Our team, which include trained Mediators and members of the Law Society’s Children’s Law Panel, are here to help you when life takes an unexpected turn and get the results you need to move on to a positive future.
Below are some of the most common questions we receive from clients regarding financial settlements.
What is a Consent Order?
Once you and your spouse have agreed on how to divide your money, assets, income, and property, we can draft a Consent Order that is filed at the Court along with a “Statement of Information” form which will set out all your financial information, including both of your incomes, any properties held and other capital, liabilities, and pension valuations. You have a duty to make a full and frank disclosure about your finances to the Court.
The Court will consider if the agreement you and your spouse have reached is fair and properly provides for you both. If the Court is satisfied that the agreement reached is fair, the Consent Order will be granted. If the judge does not think it provides adequate financial provisions for one or both parties, they can ask for further information or state you both must attend a hearing.
Because our experienced Financial Settlement Solicitors will be guiding you through the negotiation and/or mediation process, we can ensure that the agreement you have reached will be approved by the Court.
What factors are considered when negotiating a financial settlement?
When working out your financial settlement, our Solicitors and the Court (should the matter proceed to a hearing) must consider the factors listed under section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. These are:
- The resources available to the parties, both capital and income and extant or reasonably foreseeable.
- The financial needs of each party, considering the needs of dependent children and any disabilities.
- The duration of the marriage and the age of the parties.
- The conduct of the parties (but only in exceptional circumstances).
- The standard of living enjoyed by the parties.
- Any benefit either party will lose as a result of the divorce.
- The contributions of each party to the marriage (both financial and non-financial).
It is crucial to understand that the Court will view financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage as equal in worth. Therefore, if you have stepped back from your career to raise your children and look after the home, your work is viewed as equivalent to that of your spouse, even if they brought in most of the income.
Will I have to pay spousal maintenance?
This will depend on your situation and how the section 25 factors apply to your marriage. There is no legal right to spousal maintenance; however, the Court may decide that it must be awarded to achieve a fair financial settlement.
Why choose us?
People choose and recommend us because we care about them, their children, and their future. We are focused on results and achieving them in the most cost-effective, non-confrontational way possible. Our Family Law Solicitors will take care of your legal concerns so you can focus on yourself and your children.
People choose and recommend us not just in Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby and Leamington, but across the Midlands and the whole of the UK.
To talk to us about your divorce financial settlement, please contact us using the form below, call us on Coventry (02476) 231000, email enquiries@askewslegal.co. or visit us at our city centre offices in Coventry.