Separation financial advice please.

[Raginghistorically]

My son and DIL have agreed to divorce after a short marriage. There are no children. They own a house and have agreed how the proceeds will be divided. My son will be buying another property immediately, my DIL wishes to wait a while. The house sale is now underway. There has been no formal separation documentation signed and they wish to start divorce proceedings only once the house is sold which they will do online. They made a mirror will leaving everything to each other. At what point can they change their wills so that each of them can leave their share of their property to their own families? Neither now wish to leave the other anything in the event of one of them dying, but jointly owning the house, life assurances and in the absence of any separation documentation, or a new will, this is what would happen. Should they have an interim separation agreement drawn up? How and when can they separate the house ownership to a joint tenancy and split the life assurance or can new wills stating they are separated cover this?

They should just get their financial settlement agreed as part of the divorce. There’s no need for the separation agreement. Which won’t address the areas of concern anyway. They are meant to deal with living costs during the period of separation.

The process for agreeing the financial settlement is straightforward in this case.

• they disclose their all joint and individual assets and liabilities. This is important as it ensures their agreement is based on all the information and is informed.
• they decide how to split them. As a general rule pensions are equalised and capital is split according to need unless the marriage is short. But they can decide what they want as long as it is informed and they have taken advice.
• they get independent legal advice to ensure they have made an informed decision. This is also where they can get the legal documents drafted based on their wishes
• submit to court and ask a judge to agree.
• When agreed they are financially severed.