Divorce without employing a solicitor

DullGreyGuy

A divorce is very simple to do and certainly no solicitor is required for that. A financial order is a different beast and if you are taking the prudent path of getting one then absolutely solicitors are sensible otherwise you could be holding a chocolate teapot that doesn't hold hot water when your ex comes knocking for more monies in the future. 

Have risked not having financial orders when helping two friends, one amicable, one not, and the gamble paid off (no major assets in either case). Have heard of plenty of other cases where amicable breakups become less amicable when one side is financially struggling and love life isn't going well and they find their ex has remarried and is doing exceptionally well now. 

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VyEu said:

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...

if two people agree between themselves how to split their assets and it is obvious that there is no one pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, then i can't see why the court would want to intervene and make their own decisions? i understand that the court would do so if they thought one partner was doing the other one in, or one partner was not getting their share, like a woman lives at home and look after the children and then gets nothing as the husband has gone out to work and kept the money in his account.

if both parties made money and doesn't need the other one's money, then i can't see why the court would disagree with this?  it is like they stop you having your own free will.

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DullGreyGuy said:

A divorce is very simple to do and certainly no solicitor is required for that. A financial order is a different beast and if you are taking the prudent path of getting one then absolutely solicitors are sensible otherwise you could be holding a chocolate teapot that doesn't hold hot water when your ex comes knocking for more monies in the future. 

Have risked not having financial orders when helping two friends, one amicable, one not, and the gamble paid off (no major assets in either case). Have heard of plenty of other cases where amicable breakups become less amicable when one side is financially struggling and love life isn't going well and they find their ex has remarried and is doing exceptionally well now. 

yeah, i have read that you absolutely need a financial order.  we plan to draft one from the solicitor website that we found and ask a solicitor to review it for us so that it reads ok for the court as otherwise they will throw it out, even if simply because it makes no sense or has lots of loop holes that can be misinterpreted.

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VyEu said:

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...

here is the link i found that states that a joint application is a good thing

https://www.businessleader.co.uk/benefits-and-considerations-of-filing-a-joint-divorce-application/#:~:text=Streamlined Court Process for Couples&text=This can save time and,important if children are involved.

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Jude57 said:

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? 

i think they specialise in amicable divorce because of the new law where people can split up amicably and make joint applications.  so they do the divorce process for you.  they are solicitors but they are not practising solicitors.  a bit like people who do conveyancing.  they are specialists in that area but they aren't solicitors.

yeah, i think they will only work if you are looking for a cheap service where there isn't much to argue over and there is agreement between the parties, making things simple.

VyEu

Joint apps are fine, but they don't matter really. It's psychological more than anything to make it seem less adversarial. Source: my day job. 

You're missing the point. Sure you can get a solicitor to review the order you've got from the internet but your other half is still going to be told to her her own legal advice because a solicitor could only advise one of you..not both. Not how it works.

In terms of why the court would reject it, Well idk what you've agreed with your ex. Court might be totally ok with it, they may not be and ask questions before approving the order. You don't know. Depends on the split of assets and income. 

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VyEu said:

Joint apps are fine, but they don't matter really. It's psychological more than anything to make it seem less adversarial. Source: my day job. 

You're missing the point. Sure you can get a solicitor to review the order you've got from the internet but your other half is still going to be told to her her own legal advice because a solicitor could only advise one of you..not both. Not how it works.

In terms of why the court would reject it, Well idk what you've agreed with your ex. Court might be totally ok with it, they may not be and ask questions before approving the order. You don't know. Depends on the split of assets and income. 

i have now looked at D81 form and it can also be done jointly so we will apply jointly.  we will get the solicitor to draft the consent order and we both sign it.  stop saying that a joint application is treated the same as it clearly isn't.  you are living in pre 2022 divorce laws, things have changed a lot mate since the new laws of "no fault" divorce have come in and divorce can now be done in amicable terms where the partners can continue to live in the same property and do the divorce together.

VyEu

I'm not living in pre 2022, divorce was also done amicably back then too! It was just the case that one party had to petition for the divorce and then the other response.

In terms of how the courts see the application, that is the same. It doesn't affect anything at all except for the procedure in applying for the conditional order and final order. that is it. But anyway, think what you like. 

D81 was always preferred to be done jointly (both pre and post 22) as the court find it easier to read one form rather than comparing and contrasting two. The consent order is in any case meant to be made by consent, so if the parties have agreed on the order than a joint form always made more sense.

The solicitor drafting the order can only act for one of you, the solicitor will advise the unrepresented party to seek their own independent legal advice. The applicant in the financial remedy case will submit both the d81 and consent order to the court. And then you wait to see whether the court approve the order or not.

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VyEu said:

I'm not living in pre 2022, divorce was also done amicably back then too! It was just the case that one party had to petition for the divorce and then the other response.

In terms of how the courts see the application, that is the same. It doesn't affect anything at all except for the procedure in applying for the conditional order and final order. that is it. But anyway, think what you like. 

D81 was always preferred to be done jointly (both pre and post 22) as the court find it easier to read one form rather than comparing and contrasting two. The consent order is in any case meant to be made by consent, so if the parties have agreed on the order than a joint form always made more sense.

The solicitor drafting the order can only act for one of you, the solicitor will advise the unrepresented party to seek their own independent legal advice. The applicant in the financial remedy case will submit both the d81 and consent order to the court. And then you wait to see whether the court approve the order or not.

there are companies that will draft the consent order for you as it needs to be in legal speak for the court to sign off.  we are not going to seek legal advice, we are going to ask a solicitor to draft a consent order that we have agreed on so that the court can approve.

VyEu

Yes you can ask a solicitor to draft the consent order sure but they'll only act for one party. No solicitor will act for both. 
If the other party chooses not to get their own solicitor, sure, that's on them. 

And no it's not just a question of it being 'in legal speak'. It needs to be a watertight consent order with all the necessary provisions AND the court needs to think it's fair in all the circumstances. You need both a D81 and a consent order.