Read all our Frequently Asked Questions

No. It is a fixed-fee starting session for immediate questions and a roadmap. You can then decide whether to return for our full service or take the next steps yourselves.

You can ask how the legal divorce process works, what separation may mean for your finances in the short term, and any pressing questions you may have about money or children. Your screening and onboarding information helps focus the session on your circumstances.

You may be at different stages of readiness, and that's completely normal. At the screening stage our senior solicitors meet you both individually to ensure a joint process will work for you both.

Complete the onboarding form fully. Make a short list of the decisions or deadlines worrying you most so the session can focus on the answers you need now.

If you want the agreement to be legally binding and enforceable, it needs to be set out in a Financial Order and approved by the court. A judge can ask for changes if the proposed court order is not properly drafted or considered fair.

No. Ending the marriage and resolving the finances are separate legal steps. A Financial Order (and not a Final Divorce Order) is used to settle and regulate the financial claims between you.

Yes. Pensions, property, savings, investments, trusts, income and business interests will all be relevant. Some assets need specialist valuation or advice.

No. There is usually no hearing for an agreed Financial Order. The proposed order is submitted to the court so the judge can review it. The judge will either then approve it and the order will be emailed to you both or the judge can ask for clarification on certain points which we can help you with.

The vast majority of our clients agree. For those who want to negotiate further, we support them to move on to mediation or negotiation with separate solicitors, depending on their preference and circumstances.

Yes. If your case would benefit from specialist input, for example a pension sharing report or business valuation, we will identify suitable independent experts and draft any necessary letters of instruction. These professionals are not affiliated with The Divorce Surgery, and we work with you both to ensure you get the information you need.

We advise on and draft separation agreements and post-nuptial agreements for couples who choose not to divorce as part of our advisory service.

No. The application ends the marriage or civil partnership. Financial claims are a separate process and usually need a consent order (or a court decision) to be binding. You can do both with us, but they answer different questions.

In England and Wales you can make a joint application, which fits the one-lawyer model well. A sole application is also possible where that is more appropriate — we will tell you which route fits.

No. An informal agreement, even a signed one, isn't legally binding and enforceable until it has been approved by a court and turned into a sealed Financial Order. This is the only way to dismiss your financial claims against each other and resolve pension sharing.

A Consent Order is a type of Financial Order, specifically, one made by agreement between you both, whether that agreement is reached through a process like ours or even during litigation, right up to the door of a final hearing. If a judge has to decide because you can't agree, the result is still a Financial Order, it's just not, by definition, a Consent Order.

No. Our fee covers drafting your order, the court's own processing fee is separate, currently £62, and paid directly to HM Courts & Tribunals Service. It's set by the government, not us, and can change at any time.

Drafting and court review are separate stages. We can usually turn around order drafting within 14 days but the court review stage is subject to the court's workload and timescales vary.

No. If you agree the arrangements yourselves, the courts won’t get involved and you don’t need any official paperwork- you can simply put your agreed arrangements into practice. Many co-parents find a parenting plan helpful to record their agreements but this is not a requirement.

No. Co-parenting is handled by a separate solicitor, deliberately, so each part of your divorce gets focussed attention.

No. Financial support for your children will be covered by either our Resolving Finances service if you are married, or our Financial provision for children service if you are unmarried.

No, this Co-parenting service is available to all parents going through a separation, regardless of marital status.

A joint consultation with a family solicitor is £900. An Advice Session with a specialist family law barrister starts from £5,700. Our parenting plan service starts from £1,500. Our fees are always fixed and agreed before we start work, so you have cost certainty.

No. It is not legally binding but it will carry weight in the unlikely event of any future court proceedings. Many parents find parenting plans useful to record their agreements and co-parenting values.

It can cover practical arrangements such as where your children live, when they spend time with each parent, holidays, school and health decisions, communication, handovers and how you will review the plan as your children's needs change.

No. If you are married you will have financial claims which include your children's financial needs pursuant to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and you should refer to our Resolving your finances service. Schedule 1 enables unmarried parents to bring financial claims on behalf of their children.

No. Routine child maintenance is usually handled by the Child Maintenance Service, not the Family Court. A Schedule 1 claim covers different ground, generally capital provision, school fees or housing for the child, and only extends to ongoing maintenance in specific circumstances, such as maximum assessment cases.

It doesn't automatically continue past your child's 18th birthday. It can continue if your child is in tertiary education, or where another special circumstance applies, such as disability.

Not automatically, but courts give them significant weight when they're freely entered into, with proper disclosure, and each person has taken separate legal advice before signing. Good process matters as much as the drafting itself.

Yes. You can work with one solicitor and barrister who advises you both and drafts the agreement. We advise all couples to have an individual meeting with a separate solicitor at the end of our process before signing the agreement.

Working together keeps the process transparent rather than adversarial, but as the law currently stands, separate advice before signing is what protects the agreement from being challenged later. It's the one part of the process you don't do jointly, for good reason.

A pre-nup addresses finances if a future marriage ends. A cohabitation agreement addresses property and finances while an unmarried couple lives together and if they separate. The legal rules differ, so one is not simply a substitute for the other.

No. In England and Wales there is no such thing as common law marriage, although it is a commonly held misconception. Living together of itself gives you no legal rights to each other’s financial resources, although you may have property claims if you own assets together and you can make financial claims on behalf of your children.