With regard to a fairly amicable marriage breakdown?
Only one property involved which will be sold and the equity shared equally between both parties. No arguments about personal belongings. As the lady of the house will be getting full time custody of the offspring, just about all household items (TV, PC etc) will go with her.
Not much at all, in fact nothing that I'm aware of is being disputed, it seems to be a very easy process so I just set about thinking, is it really necessary to involve a solicitor? That's going to costs a grand or so for each party to do next to nothing i would have thought or is there more to it than that?
The fact that kids are involved would make me use a solicitor
Put it in writing (and each have a copy), ie who has what possessions, house, savings/investments, pensions. It all needs to be crystal clear. Then you can present it to a solicitor. Your solicitor's figure sounds high though.
However, you both need time to reflect upon what you have agreed. If your solicitor is good, he/she will point out/question some things.
Don't rush into the legal process.
Presumably you are going for a legal separation?
2nd uplink - my divorce was a DIY thing but twas very amicable and no children involved..
on the other hand, a very good friend of mine did the DIY route, with a child involved. Everything was amicable, access to the kid was was agreed etc etc
Long story short he's only just regained access to his child after 18 months and a lot more money with the solicitors.
I'm with uplink - with young kids involved I think legal representation's a good idea. Older kids you may be able to get away with a DIY one. I managed mine through t'interweb. Cost me £65! Yipee!!
Thanks for the pointers, I'll pass them on. Happily it's not me involved.
. Happily it's not me involved.
I was worried for a while there Steve!
I would budget more than a grand for a solicitor. Having just been through all this its not cheap 🙁 and yes if there are kids its best off getting it all set out legally for certain.
It'll never be me Jules but thanks for being concerned for us. Nick tried moving to the other side of the world remember and I still found out where she was :-). We need to go for a bike ride, it's been ages!
The lady involved (Nicky's friend) is convinced everything will be agreeable and any problems that might arise can be talked through. It's interesting to see that it can be done for £65 via the internet.
As they'll both need to buy somewhere new for themselves, they're trying to keep hold of as much capital as they can. I don't think they'd gone through pensions and stuff though.
I've divorced twice and done all the paperwork myself...
SFB - Twice - that surprises me
My two mates have just divorced (not from each other!) in the last year - one managed it for £5K (had hope for £2K) the other about £60K-ish and she spent another £80K ish!!!!
I believe it needs legal help but that needs careful expectations, planning and managing.