Separation Agreements

[fionab51]

Hi. Have any of you living in Scotland ever had a separation agreement drawn up? I'm recently separated from my husband and having been enquiring about one. Not one solicitor will give me even a rough idea of costs! Can anyone help? We have split amicably but need to sort out ownership of the house.
Thanks.

I am going through it. I was told when I hired my solicitor that it normally costs around £3000 to get a separation agreement drawn up. I would say I have spent double that so far but my split has not been amicable at all with a lot of stalling on STBXH side meaning my solicitor has had to do a lot of chasing up too (lots of extra letters needing written). There has also been other things that have had to be dealt with not to do with the agreement.
I would like to think if you are both being amicable and you both know roughly what you want and are both in agreement then it would be closer to what I was initially quoted. Depending on what happens with house then there will potentially be costs involved with that ie selling costs or if you are planning on taking the house on yourself then you will need a conveyancing solicitor to transfer the ownership on the deeds etc.

£3000?! No way can I afford that. All we want to organise is transfer of the house into my name and give up the rights to each other’s pensions. I’ve already been told I have to pay a conveyancing solicitor £750 just to have the deeds changed. How does anyone afford to do it and how do they pay for it?!

I know it’s ridiculous. It has cost me more than what our wedding cost! Just thinking - we have DC. If you don’t have DC then it might be more straight forward for you and so cheaper? If you have already agreed those terms then I doubt it would be £3000 since you are essentially just getting the solicitor to write that up officially. But that is just my opinion. We hadn’t agreed anything when the solicitors became involved and there has been a lot of negotiations back and forth which will have pushed my costs up.

Have you checked if you are entitled to legal aid?

About 5 years ago it cost me less than £500 for a Minute of Agreement, including registration at the Court of Session. It dealt with finances and children. Was very straightforward. On top there are the usual house / conveyancing costs - that is searches and the like so that in total cost around £800 too.

So house costs not dissimilar to what you are being quoted.

Your ex should also take legal advice but those will be his costs.

When you get around to divorcing the separation agreement will form the basis of that so saves you having to do it all again.

In England. We dealt with the transfer of house ownership ourselves. I bought my share. Used the Land Registry website webinars/videos. Completed the paperwork, visited our local Land Registry office in person with id and the paperwork and paid £60. As I bought him out I also had to complete a Stamp Duty form, even though I didn't have to pay any Stamp duty.
We originally planned for a solicitor to do it for us, but they failed to understand what we wanted or were trying to encourage us to get a 'blame' the divorce.
All the help is available on line. I even had advice over the phone about the stamp duty from a helpful hmrc lady.
I don't know about pension rights though.

Sorry, whats DC? Lol.
I've got the name of a solicitor to call and think I'll maybe do it on Monday. Its just so frustrating- they seem to make money out of peoples misery.
Ye, its so much easier to do in England-aargh.

(In Wales) my solicitor charged £640 to draw up the separation agreement as my h and I agreed financial equity split, pensions, maintenence etc between us.
I managed to get a mortgage in my own name for the family house and getting the deeds transferred, searches and everything else came to just under 1k.
My solicitor knew I was strapped for cash as I was up front about it from the beginning and they very kindly offered for me to pay off the final bill in instalments over 3 months if I wanted. A family member kindly helped out with that in the end but some solicitors are flexible and if you are honest at the outset you may be surprised how they can facilitate you if you ask.

Was that £640 for both of you?

Amicable in Scotland 2 years ago about £300 for the separation agreement. We had sorted who was getting what between us so it was just making it legal. Mortgage stuff was extra on top of this and was done through the bank.

It was one agreement for us both. As far as I know ex didn't take legal advice so didn't pay anything (too tight)!

The £640 was the total bill for the separation agreement and I paid (ex is a tightwad and said if this is what I want then I would have to pay- gives you an idea of why he is now an ex).
If you can agree as much as possible between you it saves a lot of time and money but be careful you don't get financially shafted.

Cats, sounds like our ex's are very similar!

Thanks ladies. Thats very helpful. Going to call on Monday. It would be easier if we could get one solicitor to do both. Ex is also a tight wad, lol