How much does it cost to get a Decree Absolute?

It breaks down into 2 parts. The court fees and affidavit fees that have to be paid (whether you are using a solicitor or not) and how much a solicitor is likely to charge you.

The court fees are:

• To issue a petition: £340.00
• To swear an affidavit: £7.00
• To apply for Decree Absolute: £45.00

The solicitor’s charges:

The time spent with you taking instructions, drafting documents, writing letters, on phone calls, will be charged at the solicitor’s hourly charging rate. Usually you can expect the whole process to cost about £700 to £800 in solicitors time charges. They will charge VAT on top.

All in: expect to pay about £ 1100.00 to £1300.00. If someone quotes you less, you may be dealt with by an unqualified person, or you may find the service isn’t great!

Can I get the other side to pay some of the costs?

Most couples who agree the marriage is over and needs to be dissolved can agree to share these costs. In other cases the court can make an order for the other party to pay the Petitioner’s costs.

How long does it take?

To get from the start, when the Petition is issued, to Decree Absolute, is usually about 4 to 7 months, depending upon how promptly the parties deal with the steps in the process.

What are the steps in the process?

The Petition is issued by the “Petitioner”. The court posts a copy to the other party, the “Respondent”.

The Respondent acknowledges service by completing a form and sending it to the court.

The court sends a copy of the form to the Petitioner.

The Petitioner completes an affidavit in which they swear the petition to be true, and prove that the papers have been properly served on the Respondent.

The Petitioner applies to the court for the District Judge to rule whether they are entitled to a divorce. This is a called the Special Procedure Application.

If the District Judge is satisfied the correct procedure has been carried out then they set a date a few weeks ahead for the Decree Nisi.

6 weeks after Decree Nisi, the Petitioner can apply for the Decree Absolute. It is a formality.

How do I sort out the finances?

Each party discloses to the other what they have in terms of assets and liabilities. This will typically include income, debts, mortgages, pensions, houses and property, business interests, savings, life or endowments policies, inheritances, valuable items such a s pictures, jewellery, cars, boats, motorcycles .

The parties negotiate and reach a deal.

The deal is approved by the Court into a court order. This is important; it gives finality and the husband and wife can move ahead with their lives.

If the parties cannot negotiate a deal for some reason then one of them may issue an application for what the lawyers call “Ancillary Relief”. The court then sets a time table which will comprise:

Exchange of sworn financial statements

The right to raise a questionnaire if you need more information about the other side’s finances

A court appointment to look a the issues, decide what further evidence may be required, and discuss proposals for settlement

A Financial Dispute Resolution Appointment when, usually, most cases settle.

A Final Hearing. If no deal can be done, then this is when a court will impose a settlement.

How much does it cost to sort out the finances?

The least expensive, where it is a case of merely getting disclosure of financial affairs and agreeing a deal and turning it into a court order, are in the realm of £1000 to £1500 for each party.

The most expensive I have ever done, was £13,000 for my client alone. This was probably at least twice the cost of my next most expensive case. £2,500 to £5,000 is much more usual.

How long does it take?

From about 8 months to 18 months, in the most protracted cases.

For more particular guidance for your own situation, please call me on 078 3333 2055 or 01362 688946 or email me (Mark Foley)  at law@25am.co.uk

At the risk of stating the obvious, documentary evidence can make or break the outcome of a case. Because of its importance (as I’ve outlined below), there is also the potential to save on legal costs – read on!

One of the first things your solicitor will request in connection with any dispute will be all documents relevant to the case. That will be simple enough if there really are not too many documents to consider but in many cases, this will be the beginning of what can become a very lengthy task.

It is important to remember that this must include documents that might prove harmful to your case as well as those that support it. This is crucial to enable the solicitor to properly assess and advise you as to the likely outcome and will affect the strategies to be adopted. In some circumstances, it has the potential to literally determine whether or not you are going to be successful.

What is a document?

Well, they are defined as “anything in which information of any description is recorded”. That includes electronic documents such as email and other electronic communications, word processed documents and databases. It can extend to material stored on servers and back up systems and even documents that may have been deleted but where a record will often remain on the computer system – but there must be a sense of proportionality about this (see below).

Required by law

Another reason for the request is that the law requires it. Your solicitor will do everything possible to resolve the dispute for you at the earliest possible opportunity but if litigation becomes unavoidable (or has already been commenced against you), the parties will at least be ordered by the court to give what is known as standard disclosure. This means that they are obliged to make a reasonable and proportionate search for and disclose to the other party or parties, any documents they wish to rely upon as well as those that adversely affect their own or another party’s case or those that support another party’s case.

Where there are proceedings, the parties will be required to sign a declaration as to the extent of the search and any categories of documents that were not searched for – documents on servers or mobile phones for example. Your solicitor will advise as to the extent of the search required of you.

Your opponents documents

Equally important of course will be the need for your solicitor to advise on the extent of disclosure made by the party in opposition. It may be that an application will need to be made to the court for an order requiring them to widen their search in some specific area where crucially important documents might exist or even to produce some specific documents.

The duty to disclose is ongoing throughout the case if something should turn up later.

Court orders to force document disclosure

There are circumstances where a party can be ordered by the court to disclose certain documents even before proceedings have started and it is even possible to apply to the court for an order forcing disclosure of specific documents by a party who is not even a party to the proceedings!

There is though an overriding principle of proportionality. This is extremely important as otherwise matters could easily get out of hand. Solicitors for all parties to a dispute must keep this in mind. They will normally be expected to discuss with their opposite number the documents they request and to discuss and try to agree the extent of disclosure between themselves without having to involve the court.

I have been involved in cases where many hundreds of thousands of documents have been involved as well as those where just a handful of the proverbial “notes on the back of a fag packet” have tipped the balance of the evidence and influenced the outcome of a case through agreed settlement or otherwise. So, the message is; documentary evidence (or sometimes the lack of it) is going to be crucial – and the tip is; save solicitor’s chargeable time by going through the exercise of making a reasonable search for all relevant documents (good or bad!) and scheduling them in chronological order and/or where a large number of documents fall into a particular category, list them by category. Regardless of all that saving in costs, your solicitor will be delighted!

David Laws. For more information about David and his work, click here.

Two audio links for you -

First, a radio talk on the relationship breakdown between unmarried couples.

Mark Foley talks with  Mike Stevens of future radio about the legal points surrounding the break-up of a partnership between an unmarried couple.Topics under discussion concern property, belongings and the position of any children of the relationship. Does the term ‘common law wife’ have any legal status?

Second, the Landlord Law Podcast

Tessa Shepperson interviews Kevin Firth, Director of the Deposit Protection Service about tenancy deposits and the various problems regarding them which can occur during a tenancy.

Photos in schools

Do pupils and students or parents have a right to prevent anyone in school or college from taking and using their photographs?

Nicholas Hancox says the answer is usually “No”.

The Information Commissioner’s Office issued some advice on photographing children in June 2010 and said:

• the Data Protection Act does not apply to personal photographs for the family album, even if the pictures are taken at a school nativity play;

• the Data Protection Act does apply to official school photographs used in school identity cards or on school files or in a school prospectus, but there is no breach of the Act if parents and children are told that pictures are being taken for these purposes; and

• that pictures taken in school by a local newspaper for publication will not breach the Data Protection Act, if parents and children are told that this may happen.

Carers who are concerned about the privacy of adopted or fostered children (usually they are worried that published photographs or videos will enable unwelcome adults to find these children) need to take their own view on the matter.

The school should warn the child’s carers, not necessarily individually, as mentioned above, but most heads will realise that many parents are delighted to see pictures of their child in the local paper or on television.

If the pictures are taken in school and then used by a third party and commercially – to advertise a breakfast cereal or to demonstrate what a clever commercial photographer can do – then there might well be grounds for complaint or a court action in the Law of Privacy.

Otherwise, if you don’t want your child to be “famous for 15 minutes”, you will have to keep him out of the Nativity Play and ban her from the School Sports day.

You can read more about Nick Hancox and his specialist Education law practice here.

Photo  by marcn

ILN member Mark Foley appeared on Future Radio on 24 November talking about divorce.

If you would like to listen you can do so via >> this page.

In family law, does the ground for the divorce make a difference to the way the money is apportioned?

No; not usually. The law says that conduct is not relevant unless one party has conducted themselves in a manner “which it would be inequitable to disregard”.

What does this mean? Essentially , it means it would be unfair to ignore it. By way of illustration, two examples come to mind where conduct was so bad that unusually it was taken into account.

Firstly, a case from the 1970s where the husband was a bad businessman who lost most of the family money in 2 failed ventures after the couple separated. By the time it came to court there was only just enough money left in the equity in the house so that the wife could keep it as a home for the children, but only if the husband got nothing.

Secondly, a case where the husband was a sex abuser, and giving him any money would mean that the house would have to be sold and the children moved to another property. The Judge gave him nothing, on the ground that the children and mother would need years of counselling to recover from the marriage , and moving home would just cause them further turmoil.

Note that besides being extreme behaviour , for the judge to take the behaviour into account in these two cases, the behaviour had to have had a financial impact on the family.

Mark Foley can be contacted via his web-site LinkedLaw. Read more of his articles >> here.

(Photo by Darren Hester)

It is an old joke; what’s the lawyer’s favourite drink? Answer – Legal aid. But now it’s disappearing fast, pressured by the Coalition’s desire to limit public spending and debt.

Back in February Sally Davenport mentioned that it is wise to consider taking out legal expenses insurance when you are renewing your household insurance. One of the many good reasons for this is because Legal Aid is so much harder to get.

But what are the options if you need legal work done and you have little money?

Many people look to their friends and family to help them out. One client a few months ago put his adult child in touch with me, she didn’t have much money. I suggested she might get Legal Aid – he replied Dad Aid was more likely. It reflected well on him that he kept his sense of humour, I thought….

One option is to act in person. You may have to pay court fees, but you may be exempt from them if your circumstances qualify – see >> here.

However, presenting your own case and understanding what you have to do is difficult for most people. District Judges dislike claimants who present their case badly, they consume a lot of court time. You can get good value for money from a solicitor by having them draft the court papers (we call them “pleadings”) for you; at least the District Judge will be able to understand your case. After that, you can pursue your case yourself with some confidence.

In other cases a solicitor will do a piece of work for a fixed fee agreed beforehand. Some people prefer this to the usual way of charging on a “time taken” basis at an hourly rate.

Some cases can be conducted as a Conditional Fee Agreement (the “No Win No Fee “type of arrangement you see advertised on television in the afternoons for personal injury ). You can use them for most types of litigation, not just injuries. The solicitor will take a hard look at whether it is a winning case however, and will usually be more pessimistic than their client.

I always want to talk to people about their payment and funding options, so don’t think it is no use getting in touch because you are currently short on funds – there may be something we can suggest for you.

Mark Foley can be contacted via his web-site LinkedLaw.  Read more of his articles >> here.

Photo by sh0dan

Mark Foley discusses networking:

In my view, the most effective way to market professional services is to network. Network with other professionals, business people, influencers, your own existing clients, and their friends.

Why is this?

If you look in the Yellow Pages there are probably a dozen pages of solicitors. The same probably applies to accountants, doctors, architects, estate agents, web designers, marketers.

From all these providers, how does the customer decide?

One thing is for sure; customers don’t like too much choice. In a famous study, a supermarket set up two displays of jam for sale. One display had twenty choices, the other just three or four. More jam was sold from the display where choice was limited. Where there was too much choice, fear of making a bad choice inhibited people from making any choice.

So faced with the Yellow Pages list of 50 architects, people are likely to ignore it, and look for another way to negotiate the market.

What do they do?

They ask around; they might ask someone who they think would be likely to have some knowledge of who is good. They might ask their accountant to name a lawyer, or their builder friend to name an architect, or their mate who is a bit of a tecchie to name a web designer.

How many names do they collect ?

They will usually want to have two or three names suggested to them from which they will then make a choice. If the same name is suggested to them by two or three people, then that name rapidly becomes the most likely choice.

How do they choose?

No one wants to have to phone 6 people from the Yellow Pages and ask them questions to establish if they can do the job, after all, how would they know if what they are told is in any way relevant? Two or three phone calls are probably the most they will make before deciding. Therefore, if you get such a phone call, you are probably in with a one in three chance of getting the job.

Most professional service providers think that their professional expertise gets them the work. In fact it doesn’t, because most consumers are not sufficiently knowledgeable to judge whether a service has been provided with professional expertise or not. Consumers are more likely to judge you on whether they like you, whether they feel they are listened to, whether matters are dealt with in a timely way, whether it seems “professional”, as far as they can tell.

Most professional people don’t like networking, which is great for those who do, because when they make the effort they find the market is wide open. Remember, at any networking event, everybody hates it, so the person who makes the effort to make the other person feel at ease is the winner. Talk about them; their children, holidays, hobbies, houses, and they’ll love you.

Get their business cards, keep in touch, and they won’t forget you. Then they’ll be one of the people who will be able to mention you when their friends are looking for a lawyer.

Mark Foley works as LinkedLaw.  Read more articles by Mark Foley here.

Sally Davenport continues her series on employment law and holidays (the first part is here).

Employment law and holidays

After last weekend’s glorious sunshine, can the bank holiday weekend possibly be as good? Probably not, but in anticipation of an extra lazy day in the garden or on the beach, I thought it might be a good time to look at how bank holidays are treated under employment law.

In his recent post on family law, Mark Foley wrote about misconceptions. There is no shortage of them in the employment law field either. My university professor used to refer to employment law myths, and certainly there are a few of them around in relation to bank (or, to be technically correct, public) holidays.

Myth 1: It’s a bank holiday, I’m entitled to the day off

No you’re not. All employees now have a statutory entitlement to 28 days paid holiday per year. For those employees who do not have any additional contractual entitlement, this is eight days more than a few years ago.

However, unless your contract states otherwise, the eight UK public holidays come out of this 28 day paid holiday entitlement if your employer closes on bank holidays. The only exception to this may be if you are able to show that it is custom and practice in your workplace for public holidays to be given as additional paid time off.

If your employer opens on bank holidays you may be required to work. It all depends on what your contract says, but obviously employers who do open on bank holidays are likely to require their employees to work or take the day as annual leave.

Myth 2: Oh well, at least I’ll be paid double time

Wrong again. There is no entitlement to double time, time and a half or any other additional pay for working bank holidays unless your contract says so.

So, is there any good news?

Yes, we are going to get an extra day off in June 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – if you can wait that long!

You will find more information about Sally Davenport here.

Tessa Shepperson looks at tenancy agreements.

Oral tenancies

Many people do not realise that it is not actually necessary to have a written document in order to create a tenancy. You can create a perfectly valid ‘oral tenancy’ just by giving someone the key to your property, allowing them to live there and charging rent.

Many older tenancies are also without tenancy agreement as they have been lost by both parties and longstanding tenants (ie those who have been in occupation since before 1997) are generally advised not to sign a new tenancy agreement as it will not normally be to their advantage.

So why have a tenancy agreement?

There are actually a number of very important reasons why this is a good idea:

Important reasons why you should have a tenancy agreement

• It is very easy to forget what was agreed, if it is not written down
• Tenants on housing benefit/local housing allowance will need to have a written document to show the Benefit Office when making their claim
• If you have a mortgage, your mortgage company will generally insist on in
• If you ever need to evict the tenant, you will not be able to use the quicker and cheaper ‘accelerated procedure’ if there is no tenancy agreement

It is generally accepted that it is good landlord practice to have a tenancy agreement in place. Landlords are advised to make sure that this is signed and that you hold a copy with the tenants original signatures before giving them the keys. Once the tenants are in occupation, you cannot force them to sign if they do not want to.

Proposals to make tenancy agreements mandatory

There are also moves to make giving a tenancy agreement a legal requirement, and this was part of a set of proposals made by the last government in February. Although many of those proposals will now bite the dust now we have a different government, the requirement for a tenancy agreement is one which is likely to be implemented at some stage. It is also something which was recommended by the Law Commission in their Renting Homes Report in 2006.

Find out more

Tenancy agreements are however complex documents which are not well understood. To help with this, I have written a series which is being published in May on my Landlord Law Blog. This covers all aspects of tenancy agreements and is worth reading if you are a landlord.

You can also find out more and download tenancy agreements at my Landlord Law web-site and service.

Tessa Shepperson