Legal Advice on Financial Settlement

Who is this service suitable for?

This service is suitable for anyone who needs to sort out a financial settlement, related to their divorce (or separation or dissolution) and who would like to know:

what they are entitled to
what the law says is a fair settlement
what a court would decide

It is appropriate for people who:

are getting divorced
are already divorced but now want to get a legal financial settlement
are married but separating/separated and want to put a separation agreement in place
are cohabitees (unmarried) and separating
are Civil Partners and are getting separated or getting a dissolution

It can be done at any stage of your case.

It is available to anyone regardless of how simple or complex their financial situation.

A Financial Settlement Consultation is an important step in working out what your fair settlement regardless of the method you will be using to negotiate. So it is relevant for :

couples planning to discuss the settlement directly between themselves
couples going to mediation
people going to court

It is especially suitable for people who have not yet had any clear legal advice from a solicitor about what they are entitled to.

What is the legal process?

Once you have placed an order for this service the process is as follows:

1) Questionnaire Sent Out

We will email you a simple questionnaire, which you can print out or complete on your PC. The questionnaire asks for a financial summary for both yourself and your spouse/partner.

We need to know for both parties information on their property values, pensions, income, any other assets and debts/liabilities.

2) Return Questionnaire

Send us your completed questionnaire(s) by email (or post if you prefer).

3) Consultation Scheduled

Our solicitors will contact you to agree a convenient date and time for your telephone consultation

3) Preparation

Both you and the solicitor then prepare for your consultation. The solicitor will review your financial questionnaire. You should prepare a list of questions that you want to ask

4) Consultation

At the appointed time the solicitor will call you for your consultation. They will try to understand your objectives (e.g. Do you want to stay in the family home?). They will also need to understand something about your ex: are they willing to negotiate? are they likely to be reasonable? What do they want? You will also have an opportunity to ask them some specific questions.

6) Report

After your consultation, your solicitor will write a summary report including their legal opinion on: where you stand legally, what a fair settlement might look like, and what your options are for moving forward. This report will form a good basis for you to start negotiations.

7) Negotiation (not included)

The Financial Settlement Consultation is completed at this point.

You will then need to decide on the best way forward to negotiate a settlement with the other party. This can be done in a variety of ways depending on your circumstances and particularly on how easy to communicate with your spouse/partner. Options include: direct discussions, offer letters, mediation or court.

We offer a flexible, affordable way to manage these negotiations without the expense of a solicitor using our Divorce Consultant Service.

What is included in the service?

The purpose of this service is to help you understand what you are entitled to and what, according to family law, would be considered a fair settlement, based on your individual circumstances.

This service includes telephone consultation with an experienced family solicitor.

Shortly after the consultation you will receive a report from the solicitor outlining their legal opinion on a fair financial settlement in your case.

This service is concluded once you receive your report. It does not include negotiating a deal with the other party - for that we would recommend retaining the further services of the solicitor who advised you, or using one of our Divorce Consultants.

Any restrictions or limitations?

This service depends on you being able to provide a reasonably complete overview of the financial position of yourself and your spouse/partner.

It is therefore not suitable for cases where the other party is unwilling to provide their financial information. If you are in this situation we can still help but we would recommend you start with our Divorce Consultant service.

If you need assistance with managing the collection and exchange of financial information between the two of you - then again we would recommend starting with our Divorce Consultant service and returning to this service once you have a good handle on the financial data.

If your finances are complex then we can still offer this service but we would suggest that you call our helpline to discuss your case before you place an order.

Please call us before ordering if your case involves:

more than 2 properties
more than £1 million in assets
complex business assets
significant overseas assets
trusts or other similar financial complications

This service is only applicable to people whose divorce/separation is taking place in England/Wales and/or who have financial assets in England/Wales.

How much does this service cost?

How long will this service take?

This service is typically completed within a timeframe of about 3 weeks.

Week 1 - gathering the financial information and scheduling the consultation
Week 2 - prepare for and attend the telephone consultation
Week 3 - receive the written report with the legal advice on your case

If you require a faster timeframe, for example to complete everything in 1 week, we can usually arrange it - please call our helpline to discuss.

Who provides this service?

This service is provided by a well respected law firm with a strong specialist team of experienced family lawyers, who specialise in providing legal advice on Financial Settlements related to divorce/separation.

For your protection this service will be fully managed by a specialist family law firm that is accredited and regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

As the leading divorce support website in the UK, Wikivorce is in a position to select the very best family law firms to provide our legal services. Our partner law firms have been hand picked by Wikivorce based on assessment of their knowledge and expertise in all aspects of financial settlements. We carefully monitor customer satsifaction to ensure a quality service.

Our specialist family law firms are all Lexcel accredited which is the Law Society's quality mark for excellence in legal practice management and client care.

Our solicitors are committed to providing a high quality professional service. We have worked with each of them to implement efficient, modern IT systems so that the lawyers can provide you with regular updates on the progress of your case and provides peace of mind that your case is in good hands.

Why should I choose Wikivorce?

There are clear benefits to using the Wikivorce service compared to other options:

Unlike other online divorce companies, our services are fully managed by high street firms of solicitors, who are regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. They have Lexcel accreditation which is the Law Society's mark of quality and excellence. You also have the added protection of Professional indemnity insurance and the Legal Ombudsman.

Our fixed fee services are around 50% to 70% cheaper than your local high street solicitor. There are several reasons for this. We receive funding from the government and charities which subsidises the cost. We have invested in developing very efficient IT systems, and we handle thousands of cases each year, we are happy with a very small profit from each case.

Divorce is about much more than the forms and legal paperwork. There are a huge number of questions and concerns that people have when they are suddenly faced with dealing with a relationship breakdown. Wikivorce is truly unique in providing you with 24 hour a day access to an active and caring support community to help you deal with these issues.

Our services have all been designed to be convenient and easy to access. Designed for busy people, we handle the whole process via email and over the telephone to fit around your lifestyle. So you can relax knowing you are in good hands. We provide regular updates on the progress of your case and our helpline is open 7 days a week up until 8pm.

How do I get started?

To begin the process simply place an order online or speak to one of our expert advisors on our free telephone helpline.

1) Place Order

Click the "Order Now" button at the top of this page to place an order on our website. You can pay by debit or credit card, Paypal or bank transfer. If you have any questions about our service or if you want to order by phone, just call our helpline on: 01202 805020.

2) Questionnaire Sent Out

We will send you by email a very simple questionnaire to gather financial information from you and your spouse/partner.