An Agreeable Case Study – Justin’s Story
Since the No Fault Divorce legislation came into effect last April, our team are seeing increasing numbers of clients take up our ‘Agreeable’ model, where one of our specialist family lawyers and a relationship coach work together with the divorcing couple in a fair and respectful way. Their priority is to keep all the family members at the forefront of their minds, attend to the emotional impact of separation, ensure that legal costs remain proportionate to the financial circumstances of the family. The hope is that this will enable couples to resolve matters on a joint basis without needing to make an application to the court.
Our client Justin and his now former spouse came to our Agreeable team to help legally sort out their finances, as they had already agreed to co-parent their children, who are all either financially independent or teenagers. Their finances involved selling a jointly owned property as well as how to work out their pension sharing and child support. Justin kindly spoke to us about his experience of Agreeable and how the support he and his ex-partner had from the team has enabled them to move on with their lives.
“I truly believe that using the “Agreeable” solution allowed us to remain amicable and when either of us tried to force something we wanted, the Family Law Partners team supported us to bring the conversation back to a balanced and fair level.”
Back in July 2022 my wife and I decided to get divorced, not due to any other reason than that we had really grown apart over the course of our 17-year relationship (and 6 of being married), we were living separate lives and realised that we could not continue as we were. We were still fairly amicable, but it was starting to cause us to become frustrated with each other and we had seen the cracks appearing for a while. We didn’t want to admit that the marriage was over and didn’t want the kids to be upset but after maybe a year of working through it, we finally had the conversation that started the process. The conversation was that we were both unhappy in our relationship and that to continue further would only end up in misery, so we decided to look at divorce.
We both spoke to friends and family about it and some of them had been through divorces in the past, who gave us their opinions and experiences. One thing that came to light was that doing this without professional help and “drawing a line in the sand” that things could go wrong further down the line regarding childcare and finances. We were both in agreement that we wanted to make sure that once we had completed the divorce that we were completely separated and there were no chances of ‘comebacks’ later on in our lives from either side.
It was important that this was done fairly for both of us, as there were no hard feelings or bitterness. It was important that the kids were taken into consideration as priority and that also that both of us were fairly treated financially, so that we could both have the children stay at our new accommodations and felt that a fair financial split would be agreeable.
We started to look at how we could start the process and looked at the usual solicitor each and the pricing, which looked like it could be an issue as we didn’t have any savings at the time to pay a solicitor each, so needed to find a way that was agreeable and financially viable. We also looked at the option of mediation and then solicitors, so that we could come up with the plan we wanted and then go to solicitors, we hoped that this would stop the solicitors fighting on our behalf and thus increase the amount of funds required. It was then we found Family Law Partners and the “Agreeable” solution which seemed the best option for us. A one-off payment (as long as we didn’t start fighting between ourselves and remained amicable) which did turn out to be exactly the right choice.
Once we had agreed to move forward with the Family Law Partners solution, we were required to fill in documentation that outlined not only our financial details, but how the children were feeling about the divorce proceedings and also how we felt. We ran through the finances and worked out a fair way for us to walk away with an agreement that would allow both of us to have quality time with the children.
“The Agreeable team helped us work through our finances and wages…and the payments were done in two manageable amounts, the price was so very reasonable considering how much it would have cost doing it any other way and made it a lot easier to finance for us both.”
The team helped break down the legal jargon, so that we could understand the wording in the legal documentation, which was a godsend as otherwise I think we would have both struggled. They helped us work through our finances and wages and between us all, we were able to come up with an agreeable amount that would come from the sale of the property, how the items in the house would be divided and also what the childcare finances would look like for us both going forward.
The team has continued to support us both through the process and we are now coming to the end of it, they are still very active with items that we are still working through and have never lost their enthusiasm towards our case, which I thought may occur once the monies were paid for the service. The payments were done in 2 manageable amounts, the price was so very reasonable considering how much it would have cost doing it any other way and made it a lot easier to finance for us both.
I cannot stress how much I think that this solution would not only help people separating amicably but I think this could help people who are struggling to come to an amicable agreement. As it’s hard to work out who should be getting the share of the finances / children etc and being in a room with two professionals who can immediately supply what the courts would expect and what is possible within the legal framework.
“I think it is really good having a lawyer and also a counsellor working together, as they draw off each other and can advise right there and then, without the need for to-ing and fro-ing between solicitors and the needs of the individuals are at the heart of the decisions, right there at the time.”
The team were very quick to pick up on any issues arising and help find an amicable solution.
For further information about Agreeable, click here.