Divorce legal process -opinions please

[TreeTop7]

Hi All,

We've agreed re custody and finances. I won't contest his petition. It's amicable so far.

I was thinking of dealing with the divorce myself but asking a solicitor to ensure that the financial consent order is legally watertight. I don't want advice/negotiation - we are both happy with our decisions. I just want the solicitor to check the order for legal correctness and watertightness before I send it off to the court.

Does this sound reasonable? I would be asking local solicitors for quotes on this basis. I'd appreciate your thoughts.

A solicitor might say that the judge doesn't think the financial order is fair, regardless of what you and your ex have agreed, so you will need to be prepared to maybe negotiate and take advice. That's their job.

I agree with rights What you deem is fair and what a judge and the law say could be two different things.

You need to be prepared to negotiate.

The solicitor can do that (might want you to sign a disclaimer that they aren't advising on merits) but they can't stop the judge kicking out the order if the judge doesn't think it's fair.

Many firms now do a fixed fee for that sort of thing.

You can do your own divorce application but because of the nature of consent order they should always be drafted by a solicitor.

Remember, solicitors take instructions from clients, they can not force you to 'negotiate'.

You can simply instruct them that this is a mutual agreement that you are both happy with.

Some may offer an opinion on the fairness of an agreement but you don't have to take the advice.

Wikivorce have a reasonable package and if you have already agreed on settlement should be simple to sort out.

www.wikivorce.com/divorce/Services/Consent-Order.html?gclid=CKO26b3ktNECFUS3GwodKdAOOA

Hope this helps

Thank you, everyone. Appreciated.