Free Guides for Divorce and Separation

It has been nine months since the divorce rules were amended, seeking to bring centre-stage the concept of cost-benefit, that there should be proportion between what is spent on the process and what is at stake.

This was nothing new and at FLiP we think it is simpler than that: Family Law in Partnership was built on the premise that people shouldn’t be spending their money unless they have to or because there is going to be a return on their outlay.  This is above all the case at separation: for most, there will need to be economies to squeeze two viable households out of the resources that used to just about meet the needs of one: all resources possible should be reserved for future needs rather than the process required to get there; so ours is a job of constantly pursuing the good outcome whilst containing the costs generated by that chase.

From the perspective of the family lawyers:

• The work we do with clients is complex:
• It is unpredictable: It is not as if there is a clear set of parameter telling us what the answer is going to be. So often, the law is a safety net that people drop into for sub-optimal and occasionally random conclusions when they are not able to work out solutions on their own. Trying to find the way forward with that as a guide leaves lots of space for disagreement even where the two sides are constructively and co-operatively engaged.
• It is also a wide-ranging, in that where two individuals come together, buy homes, share finances, have children, become interdependent, they will often entwine their lives in myriad complex ways … little wonder that the surgery to then separate things out into two separate viable futures is delicate and time-consuming.
• Finally, this is all usually unravelling in a storm of unresolved emotions. Great if we could put things on hold until everyone were able to come to the table with clear minds, co-operation and kindness – often it just isn’t that easy: decisions are needed before the therapeutic process can complete.

So we are not likely to come up with the simple, compelling and cost-free solution any time soon but in the meantime, we are trying to do our bit to help.

Four years ago we released “Towards the Light”, a guide for clients, particularly those who were looking to place their children at the heart of their decisions and find a way out of the gloom in a way that would make the best of things for all concerned. It is available here. 

We have now come at the question a little differently, trying to provide a slightly more technical and strategic guide to all things that clients should know as they get underway. Divorce: a route-map is, if you like the conversation that we would love to be able to have with clients if they were available to sit down for two hours and listen to us talk about a whole range of relevant technicalities, opportunities and traps.

Our hope is that people coming to this territory will read our new booklet at the start, probably before their first lawyer-meeting (whether that is with us or with someone else). Thus equipped, the information that you are given is likely to be more familiar, enable you to advance more quickly towards some of the niche and nuanced areas that all situations involve and thus give you a lower-cost head-start towards being able to plan the best way forward.

The guide is here – do let us know your thoughts … we are going to update it regularly and feedback from you will be very welcomed.