Help Guide 2
Direct Your Divorce
Choose how you want to sort out your divorce
that’s best for you and your family
Once you are 100% sure that divorce is the way forward and you have read and acted on Help Guide 1 (Pre-Divorce – 28 day final lap of preparation and decision making), then it is time to start your divorce process.
In Help Guide 1 we were referring to your wife, husband and civil partner as your partner or spouse. But as you have decided to divorce, we will now refer to them as your ex-partner or ex-spouse in every Help Guide from now on.
So here we go –
THE FIRST PIECE OF INFORMATION YOU AND YOUR EX-PARTNER NEED TO KNOW IS THAT YOUR DIVORCE PROCESS CAN BE SIMPLY DIVIDED INTO 3 PARTS
PART 1 – Filling in and sending off your divorce paperwork. There are 4 steps to this paperwork. These 4 steps are explained in Help Guide 3
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE 3 – THE 4 BASIC STEPS OF DIVORCE PAPERWORK EXPLAINED
PART 2 – Sorting out child arrangements if there are any children within the marriage. This is explained in Help Guide 4.
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE 4 – CHILD ARRANGEMENTS
PART 3 – Sorting out the division of your marital assets, finances, and pensions. This is explained in Help Guide 5
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE 5 – DIVIDING MARITAL ASSETS, FINANCES AND PENSIONS
THEN YOU AND YOUR EX-PARTNER WILL NEED TO DECIDE HOW YOU WILL DIRECT YOUR DIVORCE. IN OTHER WORDS HOW YOU BOTH WILL SORT OUT PARTS 1, 2 & 3 ABOVE
Now you and your ex-partner will have to choose how you both are going to sort out parts 1, 2 & 3 above. We call this directing your divorce. There are 4 options available to choose from. You can choose one of them to sort all 3 parts of your divorce or more than likely different ones to sort out different parts of your divorce. These 4 options are explained in detail when you click on the boxes at the bottom of this page but below is a brief summary –
BOX 1 – DO IT YOURSELF (DIY) – You can sort out parts 1, 2 & 3 above between yourselves amicably. Do it yourself divorce is the cheapest, most peaceful and quickest way of divorcing. You and your ex-partner can do all the divorce paperwork yourselves with the help of our L.I.P website. We have detailed explanations on the whole divorce process, detailed write ups on the forms you need, links where to find them and other write ups on virtually every thing you could come across during your divorce. You and your ex-partner can talk over and agree on the issues that need resolving regarding child arrangements and the division of your marital assets, finances, and pensions between yourselves and then submit your agreements to the court to legalise.
To summarise, you and your ex-partner can sort out parts 1, 2 & 3 of your divorce between yourselves very cheaply as long as everything is amicable. It is not as daunting as you think. Our L.I.P Help Guides 3, 4, & 5 will help you submit all the correct court forms.
BOX 2 – ONLINE DIVORCE COMPANY – Using an online divorce company is an inexpensive way to get help in sorting out the court paperwork for part 1 above and as long as you and your ex-partner have more or less agreed child arrangements and the division of your marital assets, finances and pensions they will help with the court paperwork for parts 2 and 3 as well.
To summarise, you and your ex-partner can sort out the court paperwork for parts 1, 2 & 3 of your divorce with the help of an online divorce company as long as everything is amicable.
BOX 3 – MEDIATION HELP – Where you and your ex-partner are having trouble reaching agreements on parts 2 and 3 above then you both can ask a mediator to intervene. Mediation is a less expensive, less time consuming and less traumatic way of sorting out these issues. A mediator will help you and your ex-partner reach agreements on child arrangements and the division of your marital assets, finances, and pensions if you both find it difficult to decide between yourselves. These agreements and decisions will be written down onto a piece of paper called a draft consent agreement and sent to the court to legalise. As far as part 1 above is concerned, you and your ex-partner can do it yourselves or hire an online divorce company to help for a few hundred pounds.
To summarise, you and your ex-partner can sort out part 1 of your divorce yourself or get an online divorce company to help and then get mediation help to sort out parts 2 and 3.
BOX 4 – GO THROUGH THE COURT PROCESS – When you and your ex-partner cannot agree on issues regarding parts 2 & 3 above, are not communicating, or are on bad terms, then the only option left is to go through the courts and let the court help or decide for you both. You and your ex-partner can hire solicitors and barristers for this. This is called a litigated divorce and is very expensive. Or you can go through the courts as a litigant in person (a person who is involved in court proceedings and is not represented by a solicitor or barrister) in which case this website will be very helpful to you. As far as the divorce paperwork is concerned, you can hire a solicitor to do it which is very expensive, do it yourself, or hire an online divorce company to help you. The later two options are much cheaper. You can also use a combination of these to save costs for example by hiring a solicitor to do some of the work and then do the rest yourself with the help of this website.
To summarise you and your ex-partner can sort out parts 1 of your divorce above yourselves or get an online divorce company to help and then ask the court to intervene to help you both sort out parts 2 and 3
Important notes for your reference –
1) It is the law now that a divorcing couple must try mediation first before you will both be allowed to go through the courts to sort out your child arrangements and division of your marital assets, finances, and pensions. There are exceptions where you do not have to try mediation first, such as domestic violence. In this case, you can go straight to the courts. You will need to prove to the court that you are either exempt from mediation or have tried and failed at mediation so that the only option left is the courts. Your mediator will do this for you by signing a form that mediation has failed or that you are exempt.
2) Please try and direct your divorce away from the courts if you can.
Please click on the boxes below and read in detail all the options available to you and your ex-partner. Discuss between yourselves the best way forward for you, your ex-partner, your children, and your pets.