Divorce & Separation - Financial Aspects of Divorce
If you are going through divorce then almost certainly you will have some concerns about the way in which the financial issues arising from your marriage breakdown will be determined. Those concerns could centre on complex issues such as ownership of family businesses, third party property rights or assets held overseas. Equally they may relate to much more straightforward issues such as liability for debts or bills, sale of your home or division of savings. Regardless of the nature of your concerns it is important that you receive appropriate legal advice particularly in the current economic climate, with falling property values and ever increasing living costs. Our Family Law Team has considerable experience in advising and assisting clients to achieve appropriate and fair financial settlements. Over many years we have dealt with many different and varied cases ranging from those who have few assets up to those who own companies and have multi million pounds assets.
We aim to provide you with clear and practical advice tailored to your needs. If you require additional expert advice we have an extensive network of trusted contacts and can deal with referrals whether it be to Forensic Accountants, Surveyors, Actuaries or specialists from other fields.
Whatever your requirements, we are happy to tailor the extent of our input to suit your particular circumstances and needs. You may have already reached a settlement and only require help to make sure it becomes legally binding. You may simply need to obtain a better understanding of the legal context before engaging in negotiations independently. Alternatively you may need us to represent you at Court in contested financial proceedings or to undertake an in depth analysis of your family’s financial position with the aim of helping you to construct sensible and practical settlement proposals. You may wish to settle your financial position in a non confrontational way; we can work with you collaboratively to reach a settlement that you are both happy with. Whatever your needs we can help.
The types of financial orders available on divorce include the following:-
- Spousal Maintenance
- Lump sum payments
- Property Adjustment (sale or transfer of any kind of property)
- Pension Sharing or Attachment.
We have considerable experience in dealing with all types of financial claims and when tailoring our advice to your case we will take into consideration the financial and other needs of you and your children, the length of your marriage, your current and future earning capacity and income needs and any contributions that you have made towards the marital assets
Whatever the complexity of your case our experience Family Law Team can help
Pre- nuptial Agreement
A pre-nuptial agreement (also known as a pre-marital agreement) is a written agreement made by a couple who intend to get married. The aim of the agreement is to record what the parties intend to happen to both their existing and future assets in the event that their marriage should breakdown.
Although the divorce court is not automatically bound by the terms of such agreements the Supreme Court has recently said:-
“The Court should give effect to a nuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications unless there are prevailing circumstances which would make it unfair to hold the parties to their Agreement.”
Pre-nuptial agreements are therefore becoming increasingly popular. If you are intending to have a pre-nuptial agreement we can prepare this for you. To ensure that your agreement has the best chance of being upheld by a Court it is essential that you gain appropriate legal advice and act well in advance of your proposed marriage . Don’t delay contact us today.
