Affordable advice from our panel of solicitors – what they can advise you on

Here is a list of the topics our panel of solicitors can advise you on if you are using our Survival guide to sorting out child arrangements. 

Find out where you stand 

Get expert advice on:

• Where you stand legally on the problems that are most worrying you now.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

What and how to negotiate with your ex to avoid court

Get expert advice on:

• How to avoid going to court by approaching your ex with a fair proposal.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• How to draft a letter which sets out the difficulties with the current arrangements and your proposal for future arrangements.
• What your next steps should be.

How to respond to your ex’s suggestion

Get expert advice on:

• How to respond to your ex’s proposal or counter proposal.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

Here is a list of the topics our panel of solicitors can advise you on if you are using our guide How to apply for a child arrangements order without the help of a lawyer. 

Find out where you stand

Get expert advice on:

• Where you stand legally on the problems that are most worrying you now.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

How and what to negotiate with your ex

Get expert advice on:

• How to avoid going to court by approaching your ex with a fair proposal.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• How to draft a letter which sets out the difficulties with the current arrangements and your proposal for future arrangements.
• What your next steps should be.

How to respond to your ex’s offer

Get expert advice on:

• How to respond to your ex’s proposal or counter proposal.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

How and when to prepare your court application

Get expert advice on:  

• The right time to apply to court, if at all, and what other options might be available to you.
• Which forms you need to complete and what to include in them, including help on any bits you find difficult.
• What is likely to happen in your case once you have taken your application forms to court.

Urgent hearings and help to draft pre-action letter

Get expert advice on:

• Whether you need to ask the court for an urgent hearing or not.
• How to draft a letter which sets out the difficulties with the current arrangement and your proposal for future arrangements.
• If you do need an urgent court hearing, how to go about it.
• What the court would consider a fair proposal.
• What your next steps should be.

What to do when you receive an application about your children

Get expert advice on:

• The merits of the application the other parent has made.
• Discuss how you should respond and get advice about how to do it.
• How to fill in the C7 form.
• Whether or not you might be able to get legal aid to go to court, and if not, how else you might fund the case.
• What steps to take if you or your child are at risk of harm due to the other parent’s behaviour.
• The next steps you should take.

How to work well with Cafcass

Get expert advice on:

• How best to present your case to the Cafcass officer.
• What you can do if you are not happy with the Cafcass officer’s recommendations.
• How to work with what Cafcass recommends. 

How to prepare for the First Hearing

Get expert advice on:

• If you need to ask for an adjournment to have more time to prepare – this is where the court postpones the hearing to another date.
• If you might be able to reach agreement and avoid the hearing altogether.
• How to clearly define the key issues in the case.
• If you should try and get representation.
• What you should prepare for the hearing and how to do it.
• What issues you should talk to Cafcass about.
• The contents of the Cafcass letter/report and how you should proceed (if you have already received this).
• If you need to prepare the court bundle.

What evidence to prepare to support your case

Get expert advice on:

• The different types of evidence that you should give to the court and how to make best use of them.
• Key things to put in your statement (be aware that the solicitor can give advice on your statement but cannot tell you exactly what to put in it or write it for you in this session).

Preparing for the Dispute Resolution Hearing

Get expert advice on:

• If you need to ask for an adjournment to have more time to prepare – this is where the court postpones the hearing to another date.
• If you might be able to reach agreement and avoid the hearing altogether.
• How to clearly define the key issues in the case.
• If you should try and get representation.
• What you should prepare for the hearing and how to do it.
• What issues you should talk to Cafcass about.

How to prepare for the final hearing

Get expert advice on:

• What more you need to do to get ready for your final hearing, for example does the court have all the evidence it will need?
• How to respond to the Cafcass report (you might want to challenge it in some areas).
• How to give oral evidence on the day and what your strategy should be.
• If you need to call witnesses, who they should be, and how to do that.
• Whether you should try and get a solicitor or barrister to represent you, based on your case and circumstances.
• Whether or not you need to apply to the court to ask for more time to prepare (called an adjournment).
• How to get the court bundle ready, if you need to.

Here is a list of the topics our panel of solicitors can advise you on if you are using A survival guide to sorting out your finances when you get divorced. 

Find out where you stand

Get expert advice on:

• Where you stand legally on the problems that are most worrying you now.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

Reviewing a draft consent order

Get expert advice on:

• What the draft consent order you have received means.
• Why a consent order is important in your case.
  What other documents need to be completed and the procedure for getting them ready.
• What happens once everything is agreed between you and your ex.

Please be aware - the solicitor will not be able to tell you if you should accept the settlement set out in the consent order. This is because they would need to see all your and your ex’s financial paperwork first to do this. If this is what you would like the solicitor to do you can talk to them about the cost of this work.

Your ex’s behaviour and how assets are divided

Get expert advice on:

• The behaviour of your ex and if the court is likely to take it into account when deciding how to divide up your assets.

Clean break consent orders and maintenance

Get expert advice on:

• If applying for a clean break consent order is right for you.
• Whether, in your case, the court might make an order for maintenance to be paid to you or your ex.
• What would be reasonable to pay or receive in terms of monthly maintenance for you or your ex.
• What should happen in terms of maintenance payments for your children.

The family home If you own it

Get expert advice on:

• How the court would view your and your ex’s housing needs and the needs of your children.
• How the court would view the way you and your ex own your property and what this means for your case.
• What documents you need to get to show the court what your housing needs are.
• What your best options are given your personal circumstances.

The family home if you rent it

Get expert advice on:

• How the court would view your and your ex’s housing needs and the needs of your children.
• What your best options are given your personal circumstances.
• What steps to take next.

Here is a list of the topics our panel of solicitors can advise you on if you are using our guide How to apply for a financial order without the help of a lawyer. 

Find out where you stand

Get expert advice on:

• Where you stand legally on the problems that are most worrying you now.
• What the court might recommend in your situation.
• What your next steps should be.

What financial order to apply for

Get expert advice on:

• How the court will view your situation.
• What your rights are to any property and whether you need to take any urgent steps to protect it.
• What orders you could apply for and how enforceable they would be.
• What documents you will need.
• What your next steps should be.

Sorting things out through negotiation

Get expert advice on:

• How the court would view your situation.
• What is relevant to your case.
• What you should consider when negotiating.
• What might help you negotiate an agreement, for example, mediation.
• What your next steps should be.

Reviewing a draft consent order

Get expert advice on:

• What the document prepared means.
• What other documents need to be completed.
• What happens once its agreed by both sides (the court, timings, etc).
• What your next steps should be.

Please be aware - the solicitor will not be able to tell you if you should accept the settlement set out in the consent order. This is because they would need to see all your and your ex’s financial paperwork first to do this. If this is what you would like the solicitor to do you can talk to them about the cost of this work.

Practicalities

Get expert advice on:

• What to expect at each stage.
• Whether there are alternative routes that would suit you better.
• What it will cost and what options there are for funding your case.
• What preparation you will need to do.
• What your next steps should be.

Applying for a financial order - how to start the process

Get expert advice on:

• If this is your best option.
• Get help with forms, including Form A.
• Likely timings for each stage.
• What your next steps should be.

How to provide your financial information / Form E

Get expert advice on:

• Form E and how to obtain the more complicated bits of information you need.
• Any questions you have about filling in the form.
• How to complete part 4.
• Any extra reports you may need and how to get them.
• What your next steps should be.

How to prepare for your first hearing

Get expert advice on:

• How to best express your issues to the court.
• Preparing your Statement of issues, Chronology, and Questionnaire, including specific help with tricky bits.
• How to prepare for the first appointment.
• What your next steps should be.

Please be aware - the solicitor will not be able to actually draft the court documents in this short meeting as it takes a lot more time. But, if this is what you would like the solicitor to do you can talk to them about the cost of this work.

What to do after your first hearing

Get expert advice on:

• What the content of the order means.
• What you need to do to stick to the court timetable.
• Whether you should make an offer or what further information you need before you can make an offer.
• What your next steps should be.

Preparing for the Financial Dispute Resolution hearing (FDR)

Get expert advice on:

• Possible outcomes at the court hearing.
• What, if anything else, you need to do to prepare for the hearing.
• Whether you should make an offer.
• What to offer or what further info is needed before you can decide what offer to make.
• How to prepare a position statement.
• What your next steps should be.

How to negotiate and avoid a final hearing

Get expert advice on:

• What proposal you should consider making to settle and avoid a final hearing.
• How to write your statement and important things to include.

How to prepare for your final hearing

Get expert advice on:

• What is likely to happen at the final hearing.
• What your opening and closing positions should be.
• What questions you should ask in cross examination.
• Get help with drafting your skeleton argument.
  Whether you should consider hiring a lawyer to represent you at the final hearing and how much it would cost.
• What your next steps should be.