To ask that people STOP giving incorrect Legal advice!!!

[PoisonMaple]

I see this time and time again.

Stop it. Especially in family matters.

I get it, some information is generic and helpful, but seriously, the details!!! Stop it. These are people who are struggling and looking for understanding, give it, but stop giving Legal advice unless you're qualified to do so.

No, you are not garaunteed spousal maintenance.

No, you cannot name the OM/OW in Proceedings.

No, you cannot delay your divorce to force the other side into financial disclosure.

No, you are not going to get to keep the house because you've been at home with children. Even if you do get the house, it'll be for a set period of time until the Courts deem that you need to sell or find an agreement which allows the other sides longterm housing needs to also be met.

No, you cannot just 'get his payslips,' get your 'ducks' in a row, screenshot the messages, and then assume that you'll get a better settlement with all this evidence. You won't.

'Custody' is not a thing. Your child(ren) will live with and spend time with.

No, you cannot ensure PR remains only yours. A Declaration of Parentage is simple and straightforward, as is the process to prove you're a parent and get PR, even abusers are entitled to that. It does not guarantee contact, but you can't stop PR by not adding to a birth certificate. Especially if the other side is persistent and wants that right.

I understand more than most how emotive a marriage/relationship breakdown is, both the human and legal aspect of it.

The bottom line is this, every matter is different. The process may start off the same, but the outcome is not the same each time and never garaunteed. A settlement that I can get for 1 client is absolutely not going to be the case for another client, even if their circumstances are the same.

It's the Children Act 1989 section 13 where written consent is www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/section/13

If you started before then, but aren't yet finished the OW/OM remains as a co-respondent 🙂

Giving inaccurate legal advice isn't treading on anyone's toes. If anything, you'd be doing lawyers a favour given what they could charge for sorting out the resulting mess.

@Notcms yes

Exactly- as a solicitor I've been enjoying all the posters wielding what they believe to be the smoking gun of OPs grammar as proof she isn't a lawyer. Such misplaced faith in our attention to detail while posting on Mumsnet bless them! If only they could see email correspondence from counsel lol "he says he's KC but there's not even one full stop!"

Unless people are solicitor then no one is giving legal advice. They are sharing opinions. Some will be well informed and some completely ignorant.

I mean there’s a lack of attention to detail.

And then there is an inability to use punctuation marks and an inability to spell the word guarantee.

I spell judgment (amongst many other words) wrong every time first go and I'm a successful litigation solicitor 🥲 the irony is the people who are great at spelling and grammar in the legal sector are the brilliant legal secretaries and paralegals who posters here disparaged by saying OP must "only" be one.

If you mean that you spell it 'judgement' that's not wrong. It's just that the modern court system has adopted 'judgment' as its standard practice and that's what you see on the court documents.

I've always know it as 'judgement' and that's what I'd naturally go to but I might change it to 'judgment' in context so as not to appear anomalous.

Chambers online:
" judgement or judgment noun1 the decision of a judge in a court of law. 2 the act or process of judging. 3 the ability to make wise or sensible decisions; good sense • I value his judgement. 4 an opinion • in my judgement. 5 (usuallya judgement on someone) old use punishment regarded as sent by divine providence • His sickness was a judgement on him. against one's better judgement contrary to what one believes to be the sensible course. pass judgement on someone to condemn them. pass judgement on someone or something to give an opinion or verdict about them. reserve judgement to postpone one's verdict. sit in judgement on someone to assume the responsibility of judging them.
ETYMOLOGY: 13c: from French jugement. "

My old paper Chambers from 1988 has 'judgment (also judgement)'. Oh, well.

I don't disagree with the poster who said that they had to correct spellings but on this thread I did have my doubts for a number of reasons, not just the spelling.

Has the 30 minutes free advice offered by solicitors disappeared now in 2024?

Why does a mistake which is likely to be a typo or autocorrect mean someone's legal advice is incorrect?

The “free advice” thing is surely a marketing technique for firms to reel in new clients? It’s not some sort of formal right that randoms have to free legal advice.

I will have a conversation with a client to ascertain what their needs are which may mean they decide they don’t need me / can do the next step themselves which is fine. But there’s a line - I have a business to run!

Exactly this. The hope is to bring in paying business, but most of us give some free advice. However we do have to balance that with earning money!

Interesting! In law school they were emphatic that judgement is wrong (my honours thesis first draft was brutalised) and as you say the court system uses judgment, but possibly this could be because I am based in Australia and American spelling is sometimes preferred over British.

Yazzi, Ah, I couldn't comment about Australian spelling - I was referring to British practice. Australian speech always strikes me as being very strongly influenced by America. I sort of assumed it would be more English sounding.

It's a funny mix but our legal system is much closer to the UK (having been borne of it) so I suppose I tend to assume a greater similarity than might be fact!