Online divorce, good idea or bad idea?

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Am sure there must be threads about this but I can't find any. Need to get a divorce. Everything agreed by xh and myself. Have memorandum of understanding to turn into consent order. Found some bad reviews about the online divorce firms but was on wikidivorce so they might be biased?

Anyone used them?? Would value some advice! Was looking at quickie divorce and believe same company runs a few different sites.

Was the memorandum of understanding negotiated by a trained mediator? If so then it may be safe to translate it into a consent order, but you do need to be careful. Improperly drafted orders can and sometimes are overturned by the court, eg if one of you makes an application for maintenance or for a pension sharing order.

The divorce itself is easy and you can get the forms for free from your local county court, together with guidance leaflets.

It would be worth your while, after the divorce is underway, to run the memorandum by a qualified divorce lawyer (many do free half hour advice service) who will be able to pick up on anything that could potentially backfire on you in the future.

Yes was by a trained mediator. I will have a look at finding a free divorce lawyer session possibly a good idea. What about using the online people to do the divorce and the consent order? Any views? Thanks!

TBH doing the divorce itself is really easy. What grounds are you going on? You just fill in the petition and statement of arrangements for children forms (let your ex see them first for approval - saves time and energy later on if they can be agreed in advance), and take or post them to the court with the fee (which has just gone up to £340).

If you're going to spend any money at all, spend it on getting a lawyer to check the consent order.

I'm a high street lawyer and don't know anything about online divorce services, but as in anything else, you get what you pay for.

If you need any guidance with the divorce bit, feel free to post again and either myself, MumOverseas or Babybarrister shoudl be able to help.

As its only been a year since we split we will do unreasonable behavour on my xh part (he is fine with this). We need to get moving rather than wait for 2 years as we now have the memorandum of understanding and don't want to have to do all the financial stuff again.

I didn't realise all you had to do for the divorce was fill in some forms and send them off. And I didn't realise the court fees!

Could be turn the MOU into a consent order ourselves too? Or does that have to be done by a solicitor?

It is a false economy to attempt to do the consent order yourself. Most people don't have the skill and knowledge to draft a consent order unless they happen to be a family solicitor themselves. It can all sorts of complications in the future if the order isn't properly worded to account for individual circumstances.

The divorce itself isn't usually too difficult to do yourself - the form D8, guidance notes and a list of fees (Ex150 or Ex50 can't remember from the top of my head) are available to download free from the HM Court Services website.

Lots of people appear to use online companies successfully but apart from charging for something you can do yourself some people have experienced problems with the level of service when courts have rejected the petition online company. Also online companies based in one part of the country send the petition to their local court. This means a number of people have to transfer to a local court when there are other proceedings related to the divorce (such as those involving children) if they live in another part of the country.

Thanks for all the advice. Don't really feel ready for divorce (just getting used to Seperated )but needs be for my financial security and my dd's I guess. Off to investige further and forget about those online companies.

agree with mumblechum (as always) and STIDW.

The divorce itself will be relatively straightforward and the court staff can help you with the actual forms although they cannot advise you. If you are going on your H's unreasonable behaviour then normally around 5 examples of his behaviour will suffice and ideally you will agree these with him in advance.

Definitely money well spent getting consent order drafted by a family lawyer. I think we've all seen badly drafted orders which are not worth the paper they are written on and may (if they slip through the net and are approved by the DJ) can come back to bite you on the arse years down the line.

I'm sure you already know that you need to have the divorce underway and DN pronounced before you can file the Consent Order at the court.

Good luck and like mumblechum says, if you need any help there are always family lawyers lurking on here

I've been doing an excellent job of ignoring this!! Filling the D8 form now though and confused by the Prayer section regarding Ancillary relief. Anyone know if I cross any of these options out (if I am planning to get a consent order)? Have been googling like crazy but no help!

Don't rely on the fact that the agreement came out of mediation. I've seen some horror stories come out of there. the mediator is not there to give advice, and often anyway they aren't trained to do so.

I wouldn't expect that anyone will draft it for you in a free half hour session.

Don't cross out any of the ancillary relief standard prayers.

Hi
My ex wife and I have had a memorandoum of understranding done by a Family Mediation based on what we both agreed.
I have completed the form D8 and would be greatful for some advice on what to do next? do i need to fill in any other forms to acompany the memorandoum of understranding and the form D8
or
do i just send the form D8 and the memorandoum of understranding along with the Fee to the court

regards

You have to draw up the court order. Impossible unless you know what you're doing. A solicitor should be able to do it for you for a fixed fee, especially if you specifically say you don't want advice on whether it's a good order for you.

Hi
My ex wife and I have had a memorandoum of understranding done by a Family Mediation based on what we both agreed.
I have completed the form D8 and would be greatful for some advice on what to do next? do i need to fill in any other forms to acompany the memorandoum of understranding and the form D8
or
do i just send the form D8 and the memorandoum of understranding along with the Fee to the court

regards

thanks