Family Law & Divorce Solicitors in Reading, Henley-on-Thames & Wokingham

Our offices are conveniently located in Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Wokingham. We can also advise you remotely and you can expect the same legal advice and client care on which our leading reputation is based, however you decide to work with us.

We aim to respond to enquiries the same or next day where possible (subject to weekends, holidays and bank holidays).

Costs will also vary depending on the complexity of the work and what the matter is at hand. Our team benefits from Family Law specialists with different levels of experience. This means we can offer clients the expertise required at the most cost-effective price. 

As well as solicitors’ costs, there may also be other costs associated with your matter such as barrister’s fees or disbursements which we will always discuss with you as part of your case.

There is a misconception that obtaining a Final Order or Decree Absolute in a divorce/dissolution also means your financial claims against each other end.  That is not the case.  Unless, and until there is a Court Order in place dealing with and dismissing your respective financial claims; it may still be possible (even in the event of re-marriage) for the financial claims to remain open. 

It is therefore key to take informed legal advice from a specialist family lawyer who can advise you on your legal rights and obligations in the event of a divorce or dissolution.  Even in cases where you are amicable with your former spouse/civil-partner and can reach an agreement between you; only the Court can ratify that agreement and there a number of factors a Judge will consider before making an Order binding. Without legal advice, you may find yourself in a difficult position if one person later tries to unravel the agreement or if an agreement is submitted to the Court but not deemed fair. Read more.

A straightforward divorce takes a minimum of six months from the Application being made, to obtaining the Final Order. Applying for the Final Order is usually delayed pending a financial settlement and depending on how this is reached (e.g. through the Court or non-Court process) will affect the timescales of finalising the divorce.

The process could also take longer if there are complicating factors e.g. there is trouble locating and serving the other person with the papers or the divorce is defended.  With the new ‘no fault’ divorce process, the latter is very unlikely to happen because there are limited reasons a divorce can be defended.

The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage is the sole ground for divorce and a statement to this effect is conclusive. There is no longer the requirement to prove or evidence irretrievable breakdown by reference to adultery, unreasonable behaviour or a period of separation.

New legislation in the form of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA 2020) came into force on 6 April 2022 and introduced so called ‘no fault divorce.’ The DDSA 2020 represented the first significant divorce law reform since the 1970s and profoundly impacted divorce law in England and Wales paving the way for a more constructive approach to relationship breakdown. You can read more here.

A person’s financial claims and rights on a relationship breakdown will depend on many factors, including whether they are married/in a civil partnership, or if they are in a cohabiting relationship.  There is no such thing as a ‘common law marriage’; the rights of an unmarried person are more limited to those of a married person.

A person’s claims and rights may also depend on whether there are any legal documents in place seeking to protect their financial interests; such as a pre/post-nuptial agreement or cohabitation agreement.

The key to resolving finances on separation is to firstly complete a financial disclosure process before then looking at how best to divide assets in order to meet the needs of all parties, primarily any minor children.

It is important to take early legal advice about what you may be entitled to in the event you separate.

Unmarried couples do not have the same legal rights and protections as those who are married or in a civil partnership.  There are no automatic rights to the other’s finances upon separation or to receive ongoing financial support from them (other than child maintenance), whatever the length of relationship and whether or not the couple share children.   A cohabitee similarly does not have an automatic right to share their partner’s property or estate in the event of their death, no automatic right to various tax benefits and potentially no rights to receive the deceased’s pension.

It is possible to enter into a cohabitation agreement to set out each cohabitee’s rights and their obligations towards each other and any children during the relationship and what happens upon their separation.  

A parent with parental responsibility has certain rights, duties and responsibilities towards their child. This includes the authority to make important decisions about where a child is schooled, what medical treatment they can have, what their religion is, what their surname is and whether they can travel abroad for example.

It is important to establish who has parental responsibility for a child as only mothers have automatic parental responsibility for their children.  Fathers and second parents in same-sex couples may not automatically have parental responsibility.

It is possible that the parent with whom the children spend less time will be obligated to pay child maintenance to the other parent for the children’s benefit.  This will be the case whether or not the parents have ever been in a long-term relationship. 

The entitlement to maintenance depends on the age of the children (they must be under 16 or under 20 if they are in full-time education) and the amount of maintenance is calculated based on the paying parent’s gross income and the number of nights the children spend with them.  It is possible for parents to agree maintenance between them or for the Child Maintenance Service to arrange this.  The Court have limited involvement with child maintenance and only retain jurisdiction to deal with it in certain circumstances.

As Resolution lawyers (Resolution is an organisation of family law professionals committed to resolving family matters in a conciliatory manner) we would encourage you and your former partner/spouse to first try and agree arrangements for the children between you.  If that is not appropriate, it may be that mediation is a useful forum for you to have some constructive discussions about the arrangements with the assistance of a neutral third party.  The hope would be to try and reach an agreement using this process or another out of court alternative. However, if it is not possible to agree how much time the children spend with each parent post separation, it is possible to make an application to the Court to determine this. 

Mediationis an out of Court forum where couples separating or divorcing can discuss, negotiate and agree arrangements for themselves and their children.  A mediator is a trained, neutral third party who does not provide legal advice, but instead guides the parties to try and come up with their own solutions.

There are other methods to trying to resolve disputes outside of the Court process and we can discuss Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) with you if this would be appropriate in your case.

You can put a prenuptial or pre-civil partnership agreement in place before your wedding or civil partnership.  These agreements are not automatically legally enforceable in this jurisdiction.  However, there are guidelines in place which will help ensure the agreement is upheld by the Court in the event of a divorce or dissolution.  It is also possible to make these agreements after you have married/entered into a civil partnership – these are known as post-nuptial agreements.

If you are in a cohabiting relationship, you may want to put a cohabitation agreementin place to regulate the financial arrangements between you and your partner and what would happen if your relationship ended.  It may also be sensible to put a Declaration of Trust in place to formalise how you co-own or intend to co-own a property.

In an emergency situation and if you are at all concerned about yours/another’s safety, you should contact the police in the first instance. We can assist you to seek the protection of the family Court if you are concerned about the risk of harm towards you or your children.

The Court can make a non-molestation order protecting a person and any relevant child from abuse and harassment (or threat of) and/or an occupation order relating to who can live in the family home and access it/the area around it. These orders can only be made against “associated persons” but can include spouses and ex-spouses and other family members. Read more.