During the initial Divorce process using the online portal, a person is asked whether a ‘Financial Order’ is required. It is a simple yes / no answer at this early stage.

A Financial Order is a document from the Court which details how the finances of the divorcing (or separating) couple must be divided. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Court will be needed to decide on how the finances are separated. In fact, the Court is happy when the divorcing couple negotiate and agree between themselves and then then all the Court has to do is rubber stamp the agreement.

This stage of the Divorce is where the money you have saved by completing the initial stage yourself is better spent on legal advice. After your initial free advice session, our Head of Divorce and Child Law Jeff Garland charges £250 + VAT per hour.

We fully appreciate that this sounds expensive which is why we are committed to working quickly and effectively when negotiating for an agreement on Finances and Assets.

If you have no shared Finances, a Clean Break Order may be an important consideration. Have a read of our article on what one is and why it may be something to explore here: Finances, Property and the ‘Clean Break’.

Typically, Child Care Arrangements focus on 3 details (although they can include much more):

• Who will the Child / Children live with?
• Who will be able to see the Child or Children (known as ‘visitation’)?
• How often and where will visitation happen?

Alongside these practical arrangements, a key aspect of Child Law is often Child Maintenance: the financial amount the parent the child / children doesn’t live with will contribute to their upbringing.

The best place to start for identifying how much Child Maintenance you’ll either receive or pay (depending on the arrangement circumstances) can be found online here: www.gov.uk/calculate-child-maintenance

This government questionnaire will give you an approximate figure but it’s usually a pretty good guide.

In order to get a figure from the calculator, financial information of both parents is needed, including:

• Income (including state pension)
• Any benefits received

Mediation is often an excellent way of a divorcing couple resolving any disagreement about Child Care Arrangements quickly.

After your initial free advice session, our Head of Divorce and Child Law Jeff Garland charges £250 + VAT per hour to advise and represent in a Child Care Arrangement disagreement.

Please remember that the costs of our services do not include the Court Fee of £593. We have included VAT in our costs summary table below to ensure complete transparency of what you’ll pay for our expert advice. Remember, it is our aim to work quickly and effectively to ensure you obtain the quickest and most cost-effective representation in your Divorce.

For more information as to how we ensure you receive value for money, click here. You can also see our Solicitor profiles which detail our experience and expertise here.