Bideford divorce lawyer Jen Law has negotiated a divorce settlement in an unprecedented timescale
The combined efforts and expertise of Slee Blackwell’s family law and conveyancing teams based at the firm’s Bideford office, have enabled ‘financial remedy proceedings’ to be concluded in just three months. This is a remarkable achievement as these proceeding can often take over a year to conclude.
Our client issued the divorce proceedings themselves using the Government’s online system. The online process has been made easier to use since April 2022 when the law changed to introduce “No Fault Divorce”. We always support our clients in saving money on legal fees where possible and the online divorce system has certainly helped in reducing legal costs for divorcing couples.
However, reaching a financial settlement is far more complex than achieving the divorce itself. Financial settlements remain technical, stressful and require the involvement of specialist lawyers.
Following ‘financial remedy proceedings’ being issued at court it commonly takes anywhere between 9 to 18 months for the matter to be concluded and more complicated cases can take a great deal longer.
The first court hearing is generally listed within 12 weeks of the original application date. However, our lawyers always try to avoid the need for that hearing to actually take place by working behind the scenes to reach a negotiated settlement, thereby saving our clients significant costs. We are often able to move straight to the second hearing where a settlement can be reached in front of a Judge.
In this case, the need to sell the family home was agreed, but there were significant legal and practical difficulties in doing so due to the resident party’s lack of cooperation. This was putting a long chain of conveyancing transactions at serious risk of collapse and forcing our client to remain in rented accommodation without being able to release their share of the equity in the family home to purchase a new home for themselves and their children.
As a result of the combined expertise of Bideford divorce lawyer Jen Law and her conveyancing colleagues a settlement was reached after only three months of court proceedings. This resulted in a financial settlement order being made that is legally binding on both parties, allowing them to complete the sale of their previous family home and move on with their lives following separation and divorce.
