It can come as a shock or it might be seen coming from a mile away, but whatever the circumstances surrounding you and your spouse wanting to get divorced there is no denying that it can be a painful and upsetting experience for you both and for those around who love you. Having knowledgeable divorce solicitors in Guildford from Prentice Family Law can help you to feel more relaxed about the legal implications of divorcing your husband or wife. With a lot of legal paperwork to navigate through, we can take the weight off your shoulders at a time when you don’t want to be worrying about administrative tasks. We will handle your affairs sensitively and efficiently, ensuring that you understand the full implications of any decisions that are being made and helping you to have a smoother path to a resolution for your finances and arrangements for your children.
What we can do to help you get divorced
When you are getting divorced there is a misconception that divorce involves arguing over who gets the dog and who gets the favourite chair. The reality of getting divorced is that this is a separate process to financial settlements and arrangements that are going to be made about access to the children, if you have any. Divorce solicitors in Guildford can help with all of these areas and they can run concurrently, however, there is only some paperwork that needs to be completed to get divorced.
When you are seeking to get divorced, you are the petitioner. The person who is not filing for the divorce is known as the respondent. You can file for divorce based on one or more of 5 options and this paperwork can be completed by you. However, we understand that this can be stressful and many clients prefer to have this work completed on their behalf by us. Once the form is completed, the respondent has to acknowledge it and return it to court. We will then prepare the ‘decree nisi’ paperwork for you which precedes the final ‘decree absolute’ which is then issued by the court upon the receipt of the decree nisi. When you have the decree absolute you are officially divorced. This process can take around 6 months, depending on how busy the courts are.
Children and finances
As for helping you make arrangements for your finances and children, we can start proceedings for this at the same time as you are filing for divorce. We will always put the interests of your children at the heart of everything we do and we will deal with things professionally and as quickly as possible to alleviate the anxiety and stress that they may be feeling. Concerning arranging your finances, you will need to complete a Form E, which is more commonly known as the full and frank disclosure form. Both parties will have to complete this and outline what assets they have. We can help you do this. We will then be able to come to an arrangement and the courts will decide if this is acceptable, based on the forms. For access arrangements, if an agreement cannot be reached amicably, which we always try to encourage, then there are other steps that may be taken such as having mediation in order to reach a suitable outcome for the children. With our experience and skill set, we will work tirelessly to reach the best solution for all parties.
Call us
If you need divorce solicitors in Guildford, call us at Prentice Family Law. We are ready to support you and do the leg work for you, taking the legal pressures away – it’s what we do.