Does a hand drafted separation agreement have any legal standing?

[Adayinthelifeof]

My wife and I split 3 or 4 months ago. We are not fussed about going through the whole divorce procedure at the moment and would rather give it the 2 years required to dissolve the marriage through living apart for 2 years.

Anyways. We have come to a mutual agreement on how things are to be split... property, finances, spousal support....etc. We actually have nothing in the way of assets so there's very little to fight over. No kids. It's all friendly at the moment.

What I'd like to know is how do we go about doing this? Can we just draft our own separation agreement, have it signed and whiteness by independent notaries and then live by the agreement until divorce? Do we need to have it drafted by a solicitor or do we need to go down the whole route of getting legal advice on what we're entitled to and all that?

If we can draft our own agreement, when eventually filing for divorce do the courts take the separation agreement into account when sorting things out or could it be completely disregarded and they decide whatever they like?

Any advice much appreciated.

[Lozislovely]

I don't think it's regarded as a 'legal' document in court:

I thought about doing one myself and was told it could be disregarded.

You can however (I believe) go for formal separation via the court and then get divorced in 2 years time.

Saying that, if you're amicable and not using solicitors then you could go ahead with the divorce now for about the same court costs.