London's Leading
Divorce Lawyers
Our family solicitors in London are experts in divorce, child & financial law. Speak to London's specialist family law solicitors.
Our family solicitors in London are experts in divorce, child & financial law. Speak to London's specialist family law solicitors.
Battling through a divorce is certain to cause plenty of stress on you, and your family. Having an experienced divorce lawyer beside you will not only help by handling all legal aspects of your case but also provide the emotional support you made need to minimise the stress of the process.
All divorce cases will differ significantly based on various different personal factors therefore having an experienced divorce lawyer on your side to hasten the process, avoid mistakes happening and ensuring all documents are correctly filed and written will give your case an enormous advantage.
Divorces can be difficult and painful, no matter the circumstances and processes may vary based on personal circumstances, however they generally follow a standard course of action.
Once a Grounds for Divorce has been established, the first action is to submit a divorce application to the court, either as a sole applicant or joint applicants if you submit together with your spouse.
The process differs slightly if you apply as a sole applicant compared to a joint applicant. If a sole applicant, your spouse will receive an acknowledgement of service form which must be returned within 14 days of receipt. However, if you apply together as joint applicants, you will both receive a copy of the acknowledgement receipt.
Following a 20-week cooling off period, you can apply for a conditional order online or through the post. Upon review and if no objections, the court will issue a ‘Certificate of Entitlement’ which is the evidence the court see no objection to why the divorce should be finalised and advises when the conditional order will be granted. If your divorce began pre-April 2022, you will be subject to old divorce laws and application for decree Nisi and Decree Absolute.
You must wait a minimum of 6 weeks and one day before applying for the final order which is a legal document to formally dissolve the marriage. After submitting the final order, the court review of this document, if there are no further disputes or objections, the court will grant final order and your marriage is legally dissolved.
Please find all Magistrate courts for Family Law in London below:
In London, divorce cases are handled by Family Courts, which are part of the Magistrates’ Courts. These courts deal with family matters like divorce, child custody, and financial issues that arise during separation. The main court for divorce in the city is the Central Family Court, located on High Holborn, where many important and complicated cases are heard.
Other courts, such as the West London Family Court and East London Family Court, also manage divorce cases. Which court handles a case usually depends on where the people involved live and how complex the situation is. Each court has trained judges who specialize in family law.
Most divorce cases in London do not require a full court hearing. Instead, they are often settled through mediation or legal discussions between the two sides, making the process quicker and less stressful for everyone involved.
The divorce process in the UK will take at least 6 months to complete, this is due to the two waiting periods included in this process.
The first is a ‘cooling off’ period which is 20-weeks between the initial divorce application and the date a conditional order can be applied for. Following this there is an additional 6-week waiting period after the granting of the conditional order and the date you can apply for the final order.
The length of the process will also differ depending on the circumstances of the divorce, such as complicated financial affairs and whether a court hearing is required.
If you and your spouse can make agreements on the factors involved in a standard court hearing such as children arrangements, financial settlements and property, then no court hearing is required and the process actually all happens on paper or online.
If no agreement can be reached then a court date will be required for the judge to decide the outcome for you.
Mediation for you and your spouse may be a cheaper alternative if you’re struggling to reach an agreement.
The cost of a divorce lawyers will vary on a case-by-case basis and depend whether you chose to pay a fixed fee or on an hourly basis, therefore there is no definitive answer as to how much a divorce lawyer will cost.
However, an uncontested divorce will have considerably lower fees in comparison to a divorce where there are ongoing complicated financial and personal affairs which may require a court hearing to determine the outcome.
A drink driving conviction becomes spent after 5 years (Rehabilitation of Offenders Act). This means is does not have to be disclosed after that time. However, you will have a criminal conviction for the rest of your life.
The individual who is seeking divorce is the petitioner, whether a divorce is done online or via a court, there is a £593 divorce centre fee which is unavoidable and needs to be paid by the petitioner. The petitioner will also be liable to pay solicitors fees, which vary case-by-case but range between £700 – £2000+, in addition to the £593 fee payable as above.
If you are not the petitioner of the divorce, you’re the respondent. The respondent does not need to pay the divorce centre fee and solicitors fees should be lower than the petitioners fees.
It is a sensible idea to get legal advice from a divorce lawyer at the start of your divorce as they have the experience and expertise to appropriately guide you through the full divorce process.
Their range of support isn’t just legal but can be as simple as handling correspondence from your side to your spouse and their solicitor, all to ensuring all documents are correctly written and filed to try and dissolve your divorce in the most efficient way or, if necessary, give your case the best chance in front of a court judge.
As a company, we focus solely on divorce law, making us the experts in offering advice and assistance.
We have managed hundreds of divorce cases across London and the home counties, so it’s likely we’ve encountered every scenario imaginable.
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