This is a complete service from a fully accredited family law firm, who will manage your divorce from start to finish for a low fixed fee. The service includes everything you would expect to get from a high street solicitor. The lawyer will complete all of the legal forms for you, as well as the correspondence with the court and your husband/wife (or their solicitor). The main condition is that you both agree to the divorce.

How can Wikivorce help me to get divorced?

Couples getting divorced face a difficult choice between using an expensive high street solicitor, or struggling with doing all the legal forms themselves. We offer a very welcome and affordable alternative. Our lawyer managed divorce offers the same level of service that you would expect from your local high street solicitor, there is no compromise on quality or customer service. The price of our service is substantially lower than your local solicitor for a number of reasons: we receive government funding, we are a lean efficient organisation with very low overheads and we do a high volume of fixed price work.

What are the benefits of this service?

The traditional way to get a divorce is to use a local solicitor, but this can be very expensive. A cheaper option is to use online companies, but these are often unregulated and you have no protection if things go wrong. Wikivorce gives you the best of both worlds: a highly rated and fully regulated law firm will complete your divorce for a fraction of the cost of charged by most high street solicitors.

	Managed by experienced, professional family lawyers. Unlike other online companies, we use a well known and highly rated law firm for this service.
	Our advisors are friendly, knowledgable and accessible You can call our free helpline 7 days a week until 11pm to get advice and support.
	Easy and Time Saving Our lawyers manage the whole process, completing the legal forms and dealing with the court.
	Simple and Convenient Everything can be dealt with from your home or office - via email, post and telephone.
	No need to attend court Our lawyers will post your documents to the court - there is no need to attend in person.
	Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute Certificates You and your ex will each receive a copy of the Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute certificates.
	Affordable Fixed Prices Our competitive prices will save you hundreds of pounds compared to local high street solicitors.

Who provides this service?

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What is the step By step process?

Our partner law firm will manage your whole case from start to finish, including completing all of the necessary legal forms and submitting your case to court. 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 below to place an order on our website. You can pay by debit or credit card, or by cheque. If you have any questions about our service or if you want to order by phone, just call us on freephone: 0800 44 88 66 44
	2) Questionnaire Sent Out: We will send you (by email or post) a very simple questionnaire to gather basic information such as your name, address, date of marriage and place of marriage.
	3) Return Questionnaire: You complete the questionnaire and return it to us. You also send us an original copy of your marriage certificate (we can obtain a new one for you if you have lost it). If paying by cheque don't forget to include it with the questionnaire.
	4) Submit Petition: We draft and submit the required documents - including a Petition document to the court. At this point you need to pay a £550 court fee (unless you are exempt due to low income).
	5) Acknowledgement: The court will notify your spouse by sending them a copy of the petition. Your spouse will need to sign and return a short form to the court to acknowledge receipt of the petition.
	6) Decree Nisi: Once the acknowledgement is received we will apply to the court for a Decree Nisi. A judge will review the application and provided everything is in order then the divorce will be approved in principal and the Decree Nisi issued.
	7) Decree Absolute: The Decree Absolute is the final certificate that legally ends the marriage. We can apply for this on your behalf 6 weeks after the Decree Nisi.

How much does this service cost?

Our lawyer managed divorce can save you hundreds of pounds compared to using a local solicitor.

Divorce fully managed by a law firm £179*
	This is a complete service from a fully accredited family law firm, who will manage your divorce from start to finish for a low fixed fee. The service includes everything you would expect to get from a high street solicitor. The lawyer will complete all of the legal forms for you, as well as the correspondence with the court and your husband/wife (or their solicitor). The main condition is that you both agree to the divorce..

* In addition to our fees, there is a £550 court fee payable to Her Majesty's Court Service for divorce.

Are there any restrictions on who can use this service?

Yes, you must meet the following criteria to be able to use this service at the fixed price of £179.

• Husband and wife must both agree to the divorce.
• One of you must live in England or Wales, OR you must regard England or Wales as your "home country".
• You must be able to provide an address for both yourself and your husband/wife.
• You must have been married for at least 12 months.

What if I do not know where my husband or wife is living?

You can still get a divorce - but the first step is to find an address, through your own investigation or by hiring a tracing agent to locate your "missing spouse". Please call us for more details.

What if my husband or wife does not agree to getting divorced?

You can still get a divorce - but you have to be careful about which "grounds for divorce" (or reason) you give. Usually your spouse will sign the divorce papers even if they do not want to at first, this is because "not signing" can land them with a big legal bill. In any case you can almost certainly proceed with a divorce even if they will not co-operate, but it must be done the right way. Please call us for more details. 

What if my husband or wife has moved overseas?

You can get a divorce and can probably use our basic fixed price service - please call to confirm.

What if we both live overseas?

If you are a British ex-pat and live abroad then there is a good chance you can use our fixed price divorce package, as long as you still regard England or Wales as your home country and you have not taken up formal citizenship of another country - please call to confirm.

Important - before ordering a standalone Divorce Service - please read the following information about financial settlements and Consent Orders. 

 

Does the lawyer managed divorce service provide everything that I need?

Our divorce service is a fully managed service whereby the law firm will handle the whole start to finish process of obtaining a legally valid divorce. You will both receive a Decree Absolute (divorce certificate) at the end of the process - and your marriage will be legally over.

However, there is one very important element that is not included in the £179 service. It does not include the legal process of obtaining a legally binding financial settlement. For most couples getting divorced it is important for them to consider obtaining a legally binding financial agreement document known as a Consent Order (or Clean Break).

 

What is a Consent Order (or clean break)?

A consent order is a financial contract that is voluntarily and jointly agreed by a divorcing or divorced couple to finalise all financial obligations arising from their marriage.

Depending on your circumstances the order will include:

• Liquid assets: this is anything jointly or soley owned that can be sold for cash, for example property or shares. In fact anything that can be sold, is in legal terms a realisable asset.
• Pensions: although a pension cannot be sold it is still an asset that can be shared by agreement.
• Maintenance: there are two versions, child maintenance and spousal maintenance. Child maintenance is paid to the parent who has the child or children for the most nights in the year, spousal maintenance is payed to an ex-spouse by the higher earner, to compensate for the difference in their salaries.
• Inheritance: consent orders typically include a clause to dismiss claims on future inhertitances.

A Consent Order is a legally binding financial agreement that should be:

• drafted by a solicitor
• signed by you and your ex-spouse after you have have both provided financial disclosure and taken legal advice
• reviewed and approved by a judge in a family court.

Consent Orders which do not include spousal maintenance are commonly know as a "clean break" agreement, because there are no ongoing monthly payments other than child maintenance (where applicable). The courts generally prefer clean break agreements where possible (i.e. where is doesn't cause hardship).

Do we really need to get a consent order?

When a couple decide to divorce they follow a formal process to end the marriage, its actually a paper work exercise usually with a solicitor corresponding with a County Court Judge, but this only ends the marriage, what it does not deal with is the division of property and whether any maintenance should be paid or pensions shared.
 
If you divorce without a consent order then you need to be aware that your ex-spouse may be entitled to make a financial claim at any point in the future - even after many years have passed.
 
Some couples decide to divorce without a consent order because they may have nothing to share or even they are happy just to agree a division  informally, it maybe amicable and they trust each other, the problem is as time goes by that agreement may breakdown, a new partner may come along or friends and family may persuade one person that actually the agreement wasn't really fair, if this happens a claim can be made in court.
 
Its also important to remember that assets you develop after divorce potentially can be included in a claim made after divorce.
 
The simple solution to remove any uncertainty in the future is to have a solicitor write a consent order and have them send it to court to be agreed by a Judge.

Where can I find out more about Consent Orders?

Wikivorce has more information on Consent Orders than almost any other website:

	Read more about our fixed price Consent Order services.
	We have fixed price services whereby you can have your Consent Order drafted and processed through court by a highly rated law firm..

	Read the Wikivorce guide to Financial Settlements on divorce.
	Our Financial Settlements guide provides a great deal of information on what the law says about fair financial settlements and how you can reach an agreement.

If you have any questions about Financial Settlements or Consent Orders please call our helpline.

Do you have a reduced price if i need a Divorce AND a Consent Order?

Most couples getting divorce will need a clean break Consent Order. We offer a package price for Divorce and Consent Order that saves you £39 compared to buying the two services separately.

Divorce and Financial Settlement (simple Consent Order) - £299		Divorce and Financial Settlement (standard Consent Order) - £399		Divorce and Financial Settlement (complex) - please call to discuss
A family law firm will manage a divorce AND a legally binding clean break (for couples who do not require any property or pensions to transfered/sold.).		A family law firm will manage a divorce AND a legally binding clean break (for couples who do require one property and/or one pension to be transfered/sold.)		If you have a more complex agreement including overseas property, business assets or multiple properties please call our free helpline for advice.
				Call us on 01202 805020