Legal aid is available for divorce & financial remedy to those who are the victims of domestic abuse and are financially eligible, we can assess your financial eligibility. For those not eligible for legal aid, we offer a range of fixed fee services to help you with all or part of the divorce process which you can see here: JR Levins Family Law Fixed Fees 

You can get divorced in England or Wales if all of the following are true:

• you’ve been married for over a year
• your relationship has permanently broken down
• your marriage is legally recognised in the UK (including same-sex marriage)

Divorce Solicitor Liverpool: Most divorces are dealt with online on the HMCTS Portal. Documents can be filed with the court online and the court will consider the divorce application without anyone needing to physically attend. We can advise you on the paperwork needed and the process.

New laws mean that instead of having to attribute blame, an applicant can say that there has been an ‘irretrievable breakdown’ as the sole ground for wanting to obtain a divorce.

A typical divorce takes between 6 and 9 months. Much depends on whether or not your spouse responds quickly when he or she receives your petition.

From the date of issue of the divorce application, you must allow 14 days for your spouse to respond. If they do not respond within that time, you will need to arrange for either the court bailiff or a private process server to personally serve the divorce documents on the respondent. If successful, the court bailiff/private process server then swears an affidavit confirming service. You will have to pay the court a fixed fee for this service.

Six weeks and one day. After this you can apply for the conditional order to be made final.

Financial disputes can frequently be resolved by straightforward negotiation between the parties or alternatively using mediation. If this fails then you can make a court application but at the same time continue to try to negotiate a settlement. Sometimes we may advise that a court application should be made in order to establish a timetable for resolving the outstanding issues. We can advise on all the various courses of action and on the likely impact on your financial future.

A financial consent order is a record of the terms agreed between the parties in relation to their finances following the breakdown of their marriage or civil partnership. Frequently it reflects terms agreed by mediation, on a collaborative law settlement or by negotiation. A document is prepared and supported by brief financial details, and those documents are put before a judge for consideration. It is dealt with as a paper exercise and it is not necessary to attend court. Consent orders are very useful as they serve to avoid any future dispute over what the parties agreed at the time of the divorce. We can advise you fully on the terms of any order before you agree to it.

If you are in that unhappy situation, you can come to us for impartial advice about the best way to protect yourself, whether it be by separation or, if necessary, by application to the court for injunctive relief.