seperation and divorce help and advice needed please

[mazza1974]

I have another thread for my reasons for wanting to divorce - but i dnt know where to start

I have 2 children age 11 and 14
1 home
2 cars
i work pt 20hours
dh self employed

what is first step?
would i get legal aid?
would i have to sell house?
would i get any benefits?

how would I cope on my own ?

Why don't you talk to someone at your local CAB and/or lone parent adviser at job centre to find out what benefits etc you might be entitled to?

Get a free half hour with a solicitor to talk through your questions about selling the house/how to go about divorce etc. Not all solicitors do this so check first before making an appointment and make a list of questions to ask before you go as half an hour isn't very long.

You might be able to stay in the house as long as your children are at school but would then need to sell it. Or it might be a better option to sell it now and split the proceeds.

I don't know about legal aid I'm afraid but the solicitor should be able to tell you where to find out about this, even if they don't provide it.

As your H is self-employed would be a very good idea to get copies of all financial information before you start the process.

This website might be useful:
www.divorceaid.co.uk/

thank you x dh is also a very good independent ifa and knows his stuff unfortunately for me !!!

With legal aid, bear in mind it isn't free, it's about £90-£100 per hour. That's what I'm paying currently.

You need to find a solicitor that does legal aid as well. Go onto direct gov, they have some very good advice. It is of course worth a walk down to citizens advice or there is the option of using tghe online benefits advice calculator on direct gov. These benefits can take some time coming through though.