Articles

The recent case of Owens has highlighted a potential situation where one spouse has to prove that the other has behaved unreasonably in order to obtain a divorce. This allows one party to the marriage to effectively stop the divorce by claiming that their behaviour was not unreasonable. Such a claim is not going to mend the marriage, causes serious emotional distress which is likely to impact on all family members, and often causes financial hardship, not to mention a significant increase in legal fees.

When you separate the process of getting divorced can seem like an expensive, out of control, minefield but it doesn’t have to be. Be kind to yourself and your children and access support. Family and friends or professionals can all be helpful depending upon the level of support your situation requires.

Separation and divorce is always difficult for us to deal with as adults so imagine how children feel when their parents separate. Whatever their age they are likely to feel a real sense of loss and may feel that they are in some way to blame.

Did you know that within divorce proceedings the court has the power, as well as making orders for maintenance and transferring or selling property and other capital assets, to share pensions? Pension sharing orders enable the pension company to transfer a specified percentage of the pension into a pension in the other person’s name and can be made in respect of all pensions even those in payment.

Our niche Family Law Practice in Lancaster has two collaboratively trained solicitors, Nicola Codd and Barbara Richardson, who will help you find the best way to resolve issues on divorce and separation as constructively as possible.

Our family law solicitors Nicola Codd and Barbara Richardson are committed members of Resolution, first for family law who campaign for a fairer family justice system. We are supporting Resolution’s Cohabitation Awareness Week this week to make more people aware of the lack of legal protection upon separation for cohabiting couples.