Help with leave to remove cases.
Looking for an expert Divorce Lawyer in Guildford, Surrey?
If you are looking for expert legal advice from an experienced Divorce Solicitors, based in Guildford Surrey, then let us here at Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors help you through the process. If you are planning to apply for a divorce, or looking to dissolve a civil partnership, you will need someone to support you and guide you through what can be an extremely stressful, worrying and upsetting time. We will always give you the advice that you both need and can trust about the things that matter the most - your children, your home and your financial security.
We here at Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors are expert Divorce Lawyers based in Guildford, Surrey and can help you throughout your divorce proceedings.
With our unique legal and psychological approach we will guide you through the process and help you to find a mutually acceptable way forward, with your spouse, that alleviates a lot of stress and resentment that can be experienced at this difficult time.
Many clients make the mistake of leaving instructing solicitors to the last minute, thereby prejudicing their case and the possibility of reaching an agreement.
Delaying seeking legal advice also risks causing unnecessary distress and an increase in acrimony, resulting in unhelpful, negative interactions prior to our instruction.
Clients who instruct us promptly at an early stage in the dispute, feel more empowered and able to manage the process better. Should litigation be necessary, it is essential that the client's unique strategy, based on our joint legal-psychological approach, is pursued from the earliest possible time.
When you contact us:
The Legal Process.
To obtain a divorce you need to follow a set legal process. This page outlines the key stages you need to be aware of.
To get a divorce in England and Wales, you need to show that you have been married for more than a year and that the marriage has broken down for one of the following reasons:
The divorce is started by one person (then called the petitioner) lodging a petition with the court. The petition is a document setting out details of the marriage, names, addresses, dates of birth of any children and the grounds for divorce. The petition is sent to the court with the court fee (unless you qualify for legal aid). The court will stamp the petition and send a copy to your spouse (who will be known as the respondent).
When your spouse receives a copy of the petition, they must fill in a form to say they have received it and that they accept the divorce. This is known as an Acknowledgment of Service. If they agree, your divorce will be known as an undefended divorce. If they say that they do not want a divorce (known as contesting), this will be a defended divorce. If your partner does not return the form, you can pay the court to serve the papers in person (using a court bailiff).
The court will check the divorce papers and if they are happy with them, will issue a decree nisi. A decree nisi means the court agrees that your reasons for the divorce has been proved. A decree nisi does not mean your divorce is final. You must wait six weeks to apply for a decree absolute.
Six weeks and one day after the decree nisi is granted you can apply for the decree to be made absolute (or final), which finally brings the marriage to an end. If you (as the petitioner) do not make an application within three months, your partner (respondent) can then apply for it.
If the other person defends the divorce, there would have to be a hearing at the court or a more convenient court hearing centre but this is extremely rare.
Alongside that process you and your partner will need to work out arrangements for any children and sort out your family finances and housing arrangements.
Whether you use a lawyer or not, you will need to pay court fees to get a divorce or dissolution. This is currently £550 in England and Wales. There may also be other fees involved, such as your partner having to pay to answer the acknowledgement of service (currently £245). See the gov.uk website for up to date costs.
If your partner cooperates the divorce will usually take 4–6 months from start to finish. It can take longer, typically 12-18 months, if you have child disputes and/or complex finances to resolve.
If you are looking for an expert divorce lawyers in Guildford, then give Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors a call today on 01483 826 470 or contact us here.
Based in Guildford and Cobham, Surrey and Central London, we can help you. If you have a family dispute that needs resolving, we are here to help and look forward to your call.
We can help you with Child Law advice based in Guildford, Surrey.
At Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors Guildford, we have extensive experience in child law advice and in helping our clients to resolve these potentially difficult cases. When you come to us for advice and support on child law issues, you will benefit from a professional and sensitive service which is completely unrivalled in maximising success through our unique joint legal and psychological approach.
Our primary objective in child law cases will be to help both you and your partner work out a custody and access arrangement that will enable both your child’s welfare and stability to be maintained as effectively as possible. By working with you and your partner, we will assist you in a sensitive manner to negotiate an arrangement that benefits everyone in your family.
It is usually in the best interests of the child for disputes to be resolved outside of the courts and our dedicated team can assist you to try and resolve your differences as amicably as possible. We provide a dedicated Mediation service to help with Family Disputes where children are involved. This can help the two parties to come to a consensual agreement and to be able to communicate effectively throughout the process. However, unfortunately not all disputes are able to be resolved without the assistance of the courts and should this be the case, our experienced lawyers can make the appropriate applications to the court and will represent, support and guide you throughout the court proceedings.
When a Court is considering any matters concerning the upbringing of a child, the child’s welfare is always its paramount consideration.
The Courts will only get involved in sorting out child arrangements as a last resort. They recognise that it is far better for the parents themselves to come to a consensual agreement that they will each abide by, to ensure stability and continuity for their child.
If you cannot agree with your ex-partner on arrangements for your children, we will negotiate with them, and initiate and support you. Our testimonials really do speak for themselves.
We Have Expertise In
• Residence
• Contact
• Child arrangement orders
• Relocation (leave to remove)
• Communication and conflict resolution, which is key in any child dispute
• Mental health, including issues of clinical psychology, psychiatry
• Substance, alcohol and drug abuse
• Personality difficulties and disorders including narcissism, NPD and borderline personality disorder
• Family disputes
At Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors, through our combined joint-legal psychological skill set, we not only have the capacity to provide the very highest quality of legal advice but, uniquely, are able to formulate and present a strategy to achieve the best results for our clients.
If you require help with any Child Law Advice in Guildford, Surrey
please feel free to give us a call on 01483 826470
The family of actor Alan Thicke is headed to court in a dispute over a prenuptial agreement, the LA Times has reported.
The author of this article was formerly a commercial partner in a City of London firm. Having successfully defended his own leave to remove (relocation) case in 2007, he wrote about his experiences and his concerns for this area of law in Family Law Week [familylawweek http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed1212]. He now practises family law, specialising in leave to remove cases, drawing heavily upon the support of a psychological expert in order to replicate the commercial law multidisciplinary model for the provision of legal advice in which commercial clients demand that their legal team has an understanding of the subject matter of their practice area. In family law, this is the psychology of the individuals and of the case concerned.
The new Child Maintenance Service (CMS) must be prepared and resourced to automatically take-over the more difficult or complicated child support non-payment cases from the CSA, and must be ‘toothier’ in enforcing payment.
The National Audit Office recently published the findings of its investigation into the Department for Work & Pensions’ closure of its 1993 and 2003 child maintenance schemes.
A high court judge in London has recently given his decision in the long-running divorce dispute between millionaire couple Khoo Kay Peng and Pauline Chai, reports the Guardian.
The Law Commission for England and Wales recently carried out a review of the law relating to deprivation of liberty to ensure that suitable protections are in place within the legislative framework.
New research from Direct Line Pet Insurance has revealed that as many as 28% of people would consider putting a prenuptial agreement in place to cover custody of their pets in the event that a relationship breaks down.
The proportion of people who believe couples shouldn’t have to get married before having children (35%) is, for the first time, almost the same as the proportion who believe marriage should come first (37%), according to new analysis of NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey.
Although there has been more emphasis put on ex-spouses to provide for themselves financially following a divorce, a recent study has found that settlements made by the family courts in England and Wales are one of the most generous in the world.
Men and women who have been married for a long time react to marital problems in different ways - women tend to worry and feel upset, while men predominantly feel frustrated.
The Ministry of Justice has recently published statistics on activity in the family courts of England and Wales for the period April – June 2015.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has given an interesting insight into the legal marital status and living arrangements of people across England and Wales.
Money is well known to be a common cause of stress within a relationship but, according to a recent survey by the Money Advice Service, many couples are far from honest with their partner about their finances.
