Divorce & Civil Partnership Dissolution Solicitors in Scunthorpe & Goole

Are you looking to get a divorce or civil partnership dissolution? Our friendly and approachable family law solicitors are here to help. We appreciate this can be an upsetting time, so we aim to deal with your divorce or dissolution as quickly as possible.

Our divorce solicitors regularly guide people from across North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire through their divorce or dissolution. Our strong success rate doesn’t just come from our knowledge of the law. It comes from our personal approach of getting to know our clients as individuals and carefully tailoring our advice to suit their needs.

Ending a marriage or civil partnership can have major consequences for your living arrangements, finances and any children you have. It is therefore essential to fully consider the impact on all areas of your life and your loved ones.

We will explain the whole process and the law in an understandable way so you can feel confident that you are taking the right steps. This includes separating your finances and making arrangements for children.

We aim to offer fixed fee packages where possible, so please get in touch and we can provide you with more information.

We have local teams in Scunthorpe or Goole and work with clients across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

If you would like to have an initial no-obligation conversation, please call us on 01724 281 616, email us at info@sbblaw.com or fill in our enquiry form.

What our civil partnership dissolution and divorce solicitors can do for you

Clear guidance on every part of getting divorced or ending a civil partnership

It’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the divorce or dissolution process, particularly when sorting out matters like whether the family home should be sold or who the children should live with.

Our divorce and dissolution solicitors aim to take the weight off your shoulders as much as possible. We offer competitive fixed fee divorce services but our advice isn’t one-size-fits-all. You will receive a personally tailored service designed to achieve the best possible outcome for you, so that you can get on with your life as quickly as possible.

Here’s how our service works:

You will initially have a face to face, telephone or video conference meeting with your assigned family lawyer to discuss your needs and requirements
We will provide in-depth advice about the divorce or dissolution process and all of the issues you need to consider, including around finances and children
We will handle the administrative aspects of applying for a divorce or dissolution on your behalf, ensuring all documentation is completed to the highest possible standard
We can help will all ‘parallel’ aspects of divorce or dissolution, such as working out your finances, agreeing childcare and residence, and agreeing maintenance
In the majority of cases, we can do this work on a fixed fee basis, allowing full transparency over how much your divorce or dissolution will cost.

Divorce and dissolution applications

The first step to getting a divorce or civil partnership dissolution is to file a petition or application at court. This is now normally done online, but you can complete a paper application if you prefer.

Did you know: Under new divorce rules in force from April 2022, you can either submit a joint application with your spouse or a sole application by yourself.

Once the court receives your application, it will officially ‘issue’ your divorce. If you made a sole application, the court will send a copy of the application to your spouse, who must respond by completing an Acknowledgment of Service form within 14 days.

20 weeks after the divorce has been issued by the court, you will need to apply for a Conditional Order (formerly known as a ‘decree nisi’). Once the court issues this order, it confirms that there is no reason your divorce cannot proceed.

6 weeks after the Conditional Order is issued, you can apply for the Final Order (formerly the ‘decree nisi’). Once this is issued, your marriage or civil partnership is legally ended.

Our divorce solicitors have experience dealing with all types of application scenarios. We can advise you on the steps you need to take to progress your divorce, including applying for the Conditional Order and Final Order for you, as well as what to do if your former spouse fails to respond to your divorce petition.

We can also assist you should your former spouse file for divorce by helping you to do such things as completing your acknowledgement of service.

Financial settlements

You and your former partner need to make an agreement about the arrangement of your finances in parallel to the petition proceedings. You can either do this voluntarily between yourselves, using a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) such as mediation or by applying to court.

With us on your side, it is highly unlikely you will need to go to court. We can help you negotiate a favourable agreement that covers things like:

What should happen to the family home – should it be sold? Should one party get to keep it?

How should bills and debts be paid going forward?
How should assets such as savings and investments be divided?
How should belongings such as cars and pets be divided?
How should family businesses be divided?
How should pensions be split?
Spousal maintenance payments

For more information, please visit our page on dissolution, divorce and finances.

Arrangements for children

Making arrangements for children is often the most contentious issue families face during relationship breakdown. Divorce and dissolution can be particularly stressful for children who may not completely understand why their family is changing.

We want to help you make the transition as smooth as possible. It is vital to avoid conflict wherever possible and to help your children feel like they have a voice during any decisions about their future. We keep these principles at the core of our service and ensure that our advice is tailored to suit the best interests of you and your children.

Like financial arrangements, you can agree arrangements for children voluntarily between yourselves, using ADR, or you can go to court (but only if you absolutely cannot agree out-of-court).

We can help you address matters like:

Where your children will live most of the time
How much time they will spend with each parent and other relatives such as grandparents
Key decisions about their upbringing, such as where they will go to school and whether they should change their name
Whether the children can be taken abroad on holiday or to live permanently
Child maintenance payments

For more information, please visit our page on arrangements for children.

Common questions about divorce and dissolution

How long does divorce take?

A divorce or dissolution will take a minimum of 26 weeks (6 months). This timeframe is set out in the terms of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which came into force on 6 April 2022.

The Act introduced a new minimum wait of 20 weeks between your divorce being issued by the court and applying for the interim Conditional Order. This was on top of the 6-week wait that was already required before applying for the Final Order.

How long it takes to separate your finances or make arrangements for children will depend on the circumstances. Generally, it will be much faster if these can be agreed voluntarily than if you need a court to decide.

What is no-fault divorce?

No-fault divorce refers to the fact that it is no longer necessary for one spouse to “take the blame” for the end of the relationship. Instead, an individual or couple can simply start the process of ending their marriage or civil partnership on the basis that they feel the relationship is over.

No-fault divorce was introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 and has been available in England and Wales from 6 April 2022. The Act also removed the possibility for someone to contest or defend a divorce started by their spouse in all but a few very limited circumstances.

What are the ‘grounds’ for divorce and civil partnership dissolution?

There is really only one ground for divorce or dissolution – the irretrievable breakdown of the relationship. Previously you needed to give reasons to support this, but that is no longer the case.

Since 6 April 2022, you simply need to include a ‘statement of irretrievable breakdown’ as part of your application. No other grounds for divorce are required.

Under the previous divorce rules, to get a divorce or dissolution in England and Wales, you needed to have a valid reason. To prove this, you had to rely on one of the accepted reasons, which for divorce were:

Adultery (sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex)
Unreasonable behaviour
Desertion
Separation for at least two years and both parties’ consent
Separation for at least five years but no consent needed

The reasons for civil partnership dissolution are the same except you cannot rely on adultery.

There are some other requirements to be able to get a divorce or dissolution, e.g. you must have been married or in a civil partnership for at least one year. We will explain these requirements to you in detail and provide additional advice should they create a barrier for you.

Our pricing for fixed fee divorces and civil partnership dissolutions

We understand that relationship breakdown can be an upsetting and stressful time for everyone involved. So, we firmly believe that the costs of getting legal advice shouldn’t add to your stress.

We are happy to offer fixed fee divorce and civil partnership dissolution advice for the majority of our clients. When you can be certain about costs, it is much easier to make positive decisions about the future.

We can also offer agreed hourly rates where your case needs a little extra attention to due complex issues.

For detailed advice about our divorce and civil partnership dissolution costs, visit our Family Law Pricing page.

Why choose our divorce and civil partnership dissolution solicitors?

Our divorce and civil partnership dissolution solicitors have helped individuals and families across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire through difficult and emotive relationship breakdowns for many years.

We are members of the Law Society Family Law Accreditation scheme for our recognised skills across a wide range of family law matters.

We are also members of the Family Law Advanced Accreditation scheme for our ability to offer complex family law advice, a high quality service unmatched by other firms in the region. This includes advice about international issues and separations involving complex assets.

Amongst our talented team of family lawyers, Joanne Harriman is an accredited Family Law Advanced specialist.

We are regularly assessed by the Law Society to maintain these accreditations so you can trust completely in our ability to help with your divorce or civil partnership dissolution.

Joanne Harriman and Yasmin Akhtar are also members of Resolution, an organisation devoted to the constructive resolution of family law matters over costly and stressful court proceedings. Joanne, Yasmin and the rest of our family law team are skilled at helping individuals and families find positive solutions using cooperative discussion and negotiation.

Contact our civil partnership dissolution and divorce solicitors in Scunthorpe and Goole

If you need help with divorce or civil partnership dissolution and would like to discuss your options with one of our expert family law solicitors, please call us on 01724 281 616, email us at info@sbblaw.com or fill in our enquiry form.

We have local teams in Scunthorpe or Goole and work with clients across Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.