Financial Issues Arising upon Divorce and Separation

There are a number of ways or “options” for resolving financial issues upon divorce and separation, including negotiation, mediation, collaborative law, arbitration and/or the court process.

At the first meeting, we will ask you what your priorities are and will discuss which of these options may be best in your situation. Our focus is on helping you reach a financial settlement in the best possible way, in the best interests of any children, whilst at the same time ensuring that you have the full financial picture and legal advice before any agreement is entered into.

Where possible, we will seek to assist you in achieving this without the need for a court application.

However, where this is not possible and a court application is required, we will act firmly in your best interests so as to seek the best outcome for you and your family.

We advise in relation to the full range of financial issues that arise upon divorce and separation, including:

Capital division – what should happen to the family home and how the capital resources of the marriage are to be divided (the court can make “property adjustment orders” for sale or transfer of property and “lump sum orders” relating to the payment of a capital sum)
Maintenance – the amount and term of any maintenance for the children, whether there should be any “spousal maintenance” (maintenance payable from one spouse to another) and the appropriate amount and term of such maintenance; or whether there should be a “clean break” of spousal maintenance claims
Pensions – whether there should be Pension Sharing or Pension Attachment Orders or whether pensions should be “offset” (set against the value of other capital assets)
Family businesses and other business shareholdings – how any interests in family or other business shareholdings should be valued, whether those interests should be sold and any consequential issues flowing from this, and
Family trusts, farming cases and international assets – we have considerable experience in handling cases involving family trusts, farms and cases with an international element.
Enforcement of financial orders and variation of maintenance.

Although we are based in West Sussex, we offer a London-quality service and we have considerable expertise in handling cases involving substantial assets. We are happy to meet with clients not only at our offices near Chichester and Brighton, but also in London or at our satellite offices in Petersfield and central Chichester. We have close links with excellent local barristers and top family barristers’ chambers in London.

In some situations, we need to act quickly on behalf of our clients to obtain urgent financial support or protection. We are skilled in acting quickly to obtain emergency financial remedies, such as interim maintenance or freezing orders.

Get in touch

We are here to help.

We offer meetings in our offices or online to suit you. To make an initial appointment please click here and complete the contact form, or if you would rather speak to a member of our friendly team directly please call 01243 769001.