Divorce without employing a solicitor

AskAsk

I am looking into the possibility of DIY divorce as we are looking to split up amicably and we have agreed how to share our assets.  We keep our finances separate so we have agreed not to claim on each other's assets.  There are no children involved.

The only asset that we own jointly is our home, and we have agreed on 50/50 split or I buy my husband out.  We also own a rental property jointly, which we own as tenants in common, 50% each.

So it would look to be a simple process but I wonder if anyone has done this before?  We would be looking to get a financial order to make the asset split legal.

I looked at completing D8 form on the government website and it states you need to send in your original marriage certificate.  Do you send this by a certain royal mail service?  Or can you send in a photocopy certified by a solicitor?

sheramber

It might be cheaper getting a copy from the General Register Office

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

AskAsk

sheramber said:

It might be cheaper getting a copy from the General Register Office

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

that is good to know!  would the copy i get from that link be acceptable to send to the divorce court and i get to keep my original marriage certificate?

the alternative is I get a certified photocopy from a solicitor and send in the original as i need a copy in case i need it in future before the final divorce is granted.

if i send in the original, will they return it to me or will they keep it permamently?

VyEu

Hold your horses, the divorce process is separate to the finance process. The divorce process is now online and fairly easy to do yourself.
For the finances, the usual process is full and frank disclosure of assets and then you know whether what you think is 50% is really 50%. You don't mention other savings or pensions? It's all in the pot!

In terms of submitting the consent order to court to finalise the finances, you need to complete a D81 statement of information (setting out the financial position of each party both before and after the implementation of the proposed order) and a draft of the proposed order itself.

Unless you know how to draft an order yourself, please do see a solicitor. It's not that expensive if you agree to take each others word that they're telling the truth and are happy with the proposed terms. Your solicitor would also be able to advise to make sure that you know what you're signing up for.

AskAsk

VyEu said:

Hold your horses, the divorce process is separate to the finance process. The divorce process is now online and fairly easy to do yourself.
For the finances, the usual process is full and frank disclosure of assets and then you know whether what you think is 50% is really 50%. You don't mention other savings or pensions? It's all in the pot!

In terms of submitting the consent order to court to finalise the finances, you need to complete a D81 statement of information (setting out the financial position of each party both before and after the implementation of the proposed order) and a draft of the proposed order itself.

Unless you know how to draft an order yourself, please do see a solicitor. It's not that expensive if you agree to take each others word that they're telling the truth and are happy with the proposed terms. Your solicitor would also be able to advise to make sure that you know what you're signing up for.

it can be overwhelming when it is something you have never come across before.  yeah, the divorce is separate to the financial order, but you can apply for both on the government website by completing D8 form and asking for a financial consent order to be considered as part of the application.

my husband found a company that specialise in amicable divorce.  they are not practising solicitors and they can take your instruction if both of you agree to do the divorce together and neither party instruct a solicitor.  this makes me think that if you are prepared to look into things, you can do it yourself.

i looked at the online D8 submission and i don't think i need to send in my marriage certificate and just upload it with the application.  guess take a photo, like the way you do for a passport application.  they should have that on their marriage register anyway to check against.

on the D8 form it asks if applicant 1 wants a financial order for themself and then it asks if applicant 2 the same question.  I am guessing that i would want to tick both as we are keeping our own assets and dividing the joint assets?  do you happen to know?

apparently since the new no fault divorce laws came into place in 2022, you can now apply as a joint application, so we are going to do that.  it speeds up the process and keeps things simple.

i found a website online that generates a financial order template that you can answer questions and it will draft a template for the financial agreement for free.  i think i will use that and pay a solicitor to read over it and make any amendments necessary when it comes to that stage, which won't be until after the cooling off period.

i think in our case, a DIY divorce is possible as we don't have children and our assets are already separate in the main.  we are not going for 50/50 split of asset as we have different amounts but we are keeping our own separate finances and split the asset 50/50 that we own together.

i spoke to a solicitor for a free 20 minute consultation and she seemed to imply there will not be an issue if we agree with the split.  we have roughly the same as one another, although i think i may have more.

i deal with all the finances at home, including my husband's money, even though we keep our finances separate, i deal with all his finances, so i know where all his money is, and i am going to do full disclosure for my finances, once i have organised myself!

VyEu

No, ticking the box 'i want to apply for a financial order' does not actually do that. It's a separate online process, which a separate form. 

The d81 is not the same as a d8. 

You can get a solicitor to read the draft order from the internet but they won't be able to advise your soon to be ex. 

You can agree the split between yourself, that's fine if you both agree (and ideally each have independent legal advice) 

Yes you can make a joint divorce application, again it's online, but in reality doesn't make a difference if it's a sole app or joint. 

prowla

You may find your mortgage provider insists on a solicitor.

But try and keep that separate from any other matters; they will try and "expand" their remit!

AskAsk

VyEu said:

No, ticking the box 'i want to apply for a financial order' does not actually do that. It's a separate online process, which a separate form. 

The d81 is not the same as a d8. 

You can get a solicitor to read the draft order from the internet but they won't be able to advise your soon to be ex. 

You can agree the split between yourself, that's fine if you both agree (and ideally each have independent legal advice) 

Yes you can make a joint divorce application, again it's online, but in reality doesn't make a difference if it's a sole app or joint. 

i read up on whether it is best to do a joint or separate online application and it says that it is better to do a joint one if you are having an amicable divorce as it speeds up the process, gives the court the understanding that you have reached an agreement and hearing can be done together.  it also helps the couple to feel better and more comforted as there is no separate agenda.

yeah, i was told you need to complete a form to apply for the financial consent order, but that you can't submit that until the 20 weeks cooling off period has passed?  the non solicitor firm said they would ask us for our financial split details to draft the order for the court 5 weeks before the cooling period completes.  i will look at d81 form, but my understanding is that you can't submit that until the 20 weeks has passed and you apply for the conditional consent order?  is there a separate fee for the D81 form submission?

if you had two solicitors and they to and fro with the financial order wording, even with a simple agreement of we keep our own assets, it will be more costly than necessary.  we both have money to live well on our own, so there is no need for either party to be supported after divorce, hence the court will not think it is unfair that we are keeping our assets and not claim on each other's assets.

AskAsk

prowla said:

You may find your mortgage provider insists on a solicitor.

But try and keep that separate from any other matters; they will try and "expand" their remit!

our finances are actually quite simple.  we don't have a mortgage on our house.  we have a property that we rent out, where there is a buy to let mortgage, which we are planning to sell.

VyEu

You are wrong in that joint app for divorce are viewed differently by the courts. It really doesn't matter, but think what you want. 

You need to have the conditional order before submitting the d81 and draft order. You can only apply for that after the 20 week period.

And you are also incorrect re 'to and fro' with solicitors. If the order is properly drafted then there's hardly any...if however one set of solicitors sees the order and points out to X party that their position isn't protected or there are bits which seems one sided, then that can lead to to and fro. But if you don't want the risk of your ex having proper legal advice and then disagreeing with you, then that's down to both of you.

We don't know what the court will think is fair because we haven't seen the d81. 'enough to live on'...doesn't mean it's 50/50 and if there's deviation from equality the court will want to know why...

Jude57

AskAsk said:

VyEu said:

Hold your horses, the divorce process is separate to the finance process. The divorce process is now online and fairly easy to do yourself.
For the finances, the usual process is full and frank disclosure of assets and then you know whether what you think is 50% is really 50%. You don't mention other savings or pensions? It's all in the pot!

In terms of submitting the consent order to court to finalise the finances, you need to complete a D81 statement of information (setting out the financial position of each party both before and after the implementation of the proposed order) and a draft of the proposed order itself.

Unless you know how to draft an order yourself, please do see a solicitor. It's not that expensive if you agree to take each others word that they're telling the truth and are happy with the proposed terms. Your solicitor would also be able to advise to make sure that you know what you're signing up for.

it can be overwhelming when it is something you have never come across before.  yeah, the divorce is separate to the financial order, but you can apply for both on the government website by completing D8 form and asking for a financial consent order to be considered as part of the application.

my husband found a company that specialise in amicable divorce.  they are not practising solicitors and they can take your instruction if both of you agree to do the divorce together and neither party instruct a solicitor.  this makes me think that if you are prepared to look into things, you can do it yourself.

i looked at the online D8 submission and i don't think i need to send in my marriage certificate and just upload it with the application.  guess take a photo, like the way you do for a passport application.  they should have that on their marriage register anyway to check against.

on the D8 form it asks if applicant 1 wants a financial order for themself and then it asks if applicant 2 the same question.  I am guessing that i would want to tick both as we are keeping our own assets and dividing the joint assets?  do you happen to know?

apparently since the new no fault divorce laws came into place in 2022, you can now apply as a joint application, so we are going to do that.  it speeds up the process and keeps things simple.

i found a website online that generates a financial order template that you can answer questions and it will draft a template for the financial agreement for free.  i think i will use that and pay a solicitor to read over it and make any amendments necessary when it comes to that stage, which won't be until after the cooling off period.

i think in our case, a DIY divorce is possible as we don't have children and our assets are already separate in the main.  we are not going for 50/50 split of asset as we have different amounts but we are keeping our own separate finances and split the asset 50/50 that we own together.

i spoke to a solicitor for a free 20 minute consultation and she seemed to imply there will not be an issue if we agree with the split.  we have roughly the same as one another, although i think i may have more.

i deal with all the finances at home, including my husband's money, even though we keep our finances separate, i deal with all his finances, so i know where all his money is, and i am going to do full disclosure for my finances, once i have organised myself!

I'd be extremely wary of employing a company claiming to offer services close to legal services without them being qualified, regulated, insured solicitors. The errors they might make are potentially hugely expensive to you as their client and you'd have no redress other than via the County Court to try to recover what they could cost you. It's unfortunate that these companies are springing up to take advantage of the public's mistrust of solicitors and the pitfalls are potentially immense.

If you and your soon to be ex-husband are as amicable as you say, the cost of solicitors dealing with your straightforward divorce and financial settlement would be minimal when set against the assets you currently hold together. Surely to protect those assets now and in the future, it's worth getting some professional advice?