Divorce / Dissolution & Separation

If you wish to bring an end to your marriage, you may contemplate divorce or separation. Equally, if you are looking to end your civil partnership, you may consider dissolution of the partnership. The law that applies to dissolution and divorce is broadly the same.

We recognise that the breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership can be a very difficult and emotional time for you and your family. We therefore seek to guide you through the legal procedure to put you in a place of security.

To divorce in this jurisdiction, there are criteria that must be fulfilled. You will also need to consider the costs of the divorce. If you are applying for a divorce, you are entitled to seek the divorce costs from your spouse. There are a number of stages to the divorce procedure and only when Decree Absolute is pronounced is your marriage brought to a formal end.

You may decide that divorce or dissolution is not for you and you wish to enter into a separation agreement. A separation agreement may be appropriate where you have been married for less than one year and therefore cannot divorce, you want to wait a period of time so that you can utilise a non-acrimonious fact for the divorce or you do not wish to divorce for personal or religious reasons. While separation may seem more straight forward than divorce, there a considerable amount of pitfalls that need to be avoided in order to best protect your interests. It is important to bear in mind that a separation agreement does not legally end the marriage.

Whether your divorce or separation is acrimonious or amicable, we will always seek to protect your best interests by adopting a constructive, proactive approach.

When you are considering divorce or separation, we strongly advise that you also agree the matrimonial finances to avoid losing out on significant benefits later. For more information on the settlement of the matrimonial finances, please see click here.

As members of Resolution, we encourage non-court dispute resolution of issues. We do not, however, shy away from Court proceedings in order to protect you and your family’s interests.