It is vital that where possible, parties try and amicably come to an agreement as to the division of finances on divorce. The new divorce law under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 is widely being referred to as ‘No Fault Divorce’. The reason for this being that neither party have to rely upon fault based grounds to obtain a divorce and only have to state that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. The hope is that this will allow couples to amicably obtain a divorce and the benefit of this when it comes to finances is that it saves animosity in respect of ‘blame’ being apportioned to either party from the very start. In turn, parties should be in a better position to negotiate the division of matrimonial assets.
At Ramsdens, we promote collaborative law as a means of resolving finances. Under the collaborative process, each party can instruct a solicitor of their choice (who are specifically trained in collaborative law) and will then arrange a meeting with both parties and their legal representatives to work through the issues. An agreement will be signed that means each party is committed to resolving issues without starting court proceedings. If the collaborative process breaks down, each party will have to find another solicitor to represent them. This process allows the parties to openly negotiate and commits them to giving their utmost to resolving finances during this process.
A huge benefit of collaborative law is that parties can take the process at their own pace. It may be that an agreement can be reached within the first meeting or it may be that a couple of meetings are required to iron out all the issues.
The collaborative process is a step in the right direction where couples are committed to trying to avoid conflict and hostility in what is already a distressing period in their lives.
Our collaborative trained solicitors are on hand to assist. Please contact our specialist Family team on 08000 147720 or send us an email at family@ramsdens.co.uk to book a free half an hour consultation.