Fixed Fee Family Lawyer Services

Divorce is a legal process ending the contract of marriage. At the end of your divorce you will no longer be married.  It is very important to us that you understand at the start of your case that a divorce will not deal with division of your house, assets, income, pensions etc. or the future arrangements for your children. Although intrinsically linked, these matters are treated separately and might well be capable of resolution through one of our financial order packages or other services.

What does uncontested mean?

Under the current legislation, it is only possible to contest a divorce i.e. request that it is not granted based on jurisdictional issues such as that your spouse does not have the legal right to apply for a divorce in the UK, if say, they are habitually resident or domiciled overseas.

Contesting a divorce is complex and legal advice should be sought before submitting your response to the divorce application.

Most divorces proceed on an uncontested basis. This means that both you and your spouse agree to the marriage being legally dissolved. An uncontested divorce is dealt with by the Court, without the need for any Court hearings and is normally a “paper exercise”.

A contested divorce will require court hearing and therefore the following fixed fee package would not be available to either party.

A divorce can either be applied for by one party solely or by both parties jointly. The following package applies if you are either a sole applicant or the lead applicant (Applicant A) in a joint application.

What your divorce package includes:-

• A meeting with you (whether virtually or in person) of up to one hour to discuss and advise on the divorce process and take the specific details of your case.
• The preparation of the Divorce Application, sending this to you and your spouse for approval (NB. A spouse should be given 7 days notice of your intention to apply for divorce save in rare circumstances), and lodging the application with the Court.
• Liaising with the Court and updating you in connection with the progress of the divorce proceedings.
• Preparation of the application for the Conditional Order and the application for the Final Divorce Order at the appropriate times.
• Court fees for starting divorce proceedings which includes the Court fee for the Final Order.
• Telephone calls, emails and letters to/from you, your spouse’s Solicitor and the Court in relation to the divorce proceedings (not including any issues surrounding the wording of the Divorce Application or costs and not in relation to financial or children matters).

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What’s not included

In some cases, additional steps will need to be taken to fulfil certain legal requirements such as evidencing service of the divorce application or addressing who will pay the costs of the application. These steps are rarely required and as such are not included in the package. In the unusual circumstances that you do need to take these additional steps, your Family Lawyer will advise you of what you need and the cost of the action required.

The possible “add-ons” to your package are:

• Disputes regarding costs and potential Court Hearings.

If you get into a dispute with your spouse, as to whether or not they should reimburse you your legal fees in respect of the divorce proceedings (known as your “claim for costs”), the Court will require you to file a statement and attend a hearing where the Court will decide whether to order your spouse to pay your costs and the amount of costs to be paid.

Should you not wish to deal with this yourself, you can instruct one of our Family Lawyers who will firstly negotiate with your spouse/their solicitor with regards costs which will often result in an agreement. In the absence of agreement, we can draft the required statement and represent you at Court. This will be charged at your Family Lawyer’s hourly rate.

• Personal Service/Court Bailiff service of the divorce papers upon your spouse.

In certain circumstances, your spouse may ignore/fail to acknowledge the Divorce Application. If this happens, your Family Lawyer may advise you to have your spouse personally served with a copy of the application. The Court Bailiff charges a small fee to carry out this task, although they do have a lot of other duties and this may mean that serving your papers takes a few weeks possibly even months.

The alternative is to employ a Process Server, who will act just for you and who will promptly locate your spouse and serve them with the papers. This can often cost between £100.00 – £200.00 plus VAT.

• Application for Deemed Service or to Dispense with Service.

This is a Court application for an order stating that the Court is satisfied that your spouse has received the divorce papers; or an Order stating that it is not necessary to serve the papers on your spouse because, for example, they may be missing. This will only be applicable in certain cases. Again, your Family Lawyer will advise you if this action is necessary and will provide an estimate of charges at this time based on their hourly rate.

Instruct a fixed fee, Leicester family lawyer for this service

Call 0116 436 2170 to discuss instructing a fixed fee, Leicester Family Lawyer for our divorce (petitioner) uncontested package service. Alternatively, use our online contact form to request a call back.

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Claire Holland – Director