Separation agreement

[RR76]

DH and I are separating. We have one child aged seven who will initially live with myself while he moves in with his dad. He then plans to buy a flat where she can live with him 50% of the time.

What we have agreed (having both taken initial legal advice) is to get a separation agreement done using solicitors online as this is much cheaper.

Essentially we have agreed to split the house 50:50 (this is rather more in my favour as a larger proportion of the mortgage was paid off by a family inheritance on his side a few years ago). As I work but he doesn’t I am going to get a new mortgage on a new property and he will buy something with his share of the house and won’t need a mortgage.

Other than this we are not going to state any claim on assets held by each other (pension, savings etc).

We are both happy with this but is there anything we have missed?

Thanks in advance.

You say separation agreement - which to me (I am a family law solicitor) means no divorce.

It's cheaper to get it over and done with now. Get a divorce then get a consent order. Most firms will offer fixed fees for this. I'm sure you would, between both of you, get all that done with separate representation for under £3k between you both.

What you propose in doing a seed of separation is introducing an entirely unnecessary layer. You will still need to divorce eventually and get a consent order.

What do you mean "using solicitors online"? You must both get separate legal advice about a deed of separation otherwise it is not binding.

Hi
Thanks for replying.
We were hoping to get a no fault divorce which I know is due to come in later this year but as we want to sell the house now, a separation agreement was one option.
It would have to be me divorce my husband and I think it would considerably sour the parenting relationship.

I have seen ‘divorce online’ offer a separation agreement for £399 which I thought was a good option?

@RR76

Hi Thanks for replying. We were hoping to get a no fault divorce which I know is due to come in later this year but as we want to sell the house now, a separation agreement was one option. It would have to be me divorce my husband and I think it would considerably sour the parenting relationship.

I have seen ‘divorce online’ offer a separation agreement for £399 which I thought was a good option?

Are they saying they will do that and act for one of you, or act for both?

They act for both of us as we have agreed the terms between us.

In that case I strongly recommend that you withdraw all instructions from them as they clearly haven't got a clue.

They cannot act for you both. For a deed of separation to stand a chance of being binding you both need to receive independent legal advice. That means not from the same law firm.

We have both taken legal advice separately and come to the idea of the separation agreement here:
www.divorce-online.co.uk/divorce-services/family-law-services/separation-agreement/

We thought this would be cheaper as we are in agreement. So do you feel we would be better pursuing it via the solicitors we have spoken to?

I really appreciate your input and time. Thankyou.

When you say make no claim on other assets what other assets are there? I assume there may be pensions etc. These really should be valued so you know what each of you may be agreeing to give up.

We both have a pension but do not wish to make a claim on each others’. They are both teachers pensions. He has some savings and a separate small pension but I don’t wish to make a claim on those as I am happy to take half of the value of the house particularly given that I benefit more from that than he does. We don’t have any other assets or debt.

Listen to Collaborate above as a family lawyer and still get independent advice.

Hi,,
New to mumsnet. This my firs tpost. RR76
It's been long time, hope things worked out well for you.

@Collaborate
I looking for a lawyer to get some advice on separation/divorce. Don't know many people and hesitant to ask anyone about it.

I would like to see you in person if you are in London and still practicing?