THAMES VALLEY COLLABORATIVE LAWYERS
Putting your Family at the Heart of the Matter
Is there such a thing as a good divorce? Of course, no divorce is ever easy. However, lawyers who are members of Resolution follow a Code of Practice that promotes a constructive approach to family issues and considers the needs of the whole family, in particular the best interests of children.
Good Divorce Week
Resolution ran its Good Divorce Week 2016 in November. This annual awareness raising campaign was scheduled to run from 28 November to 2 December and saw the launch of its Code of Practice recently revised following its launch 30 years ago. This means:
- Listening to you, being honest with you and treating you with respect.
- Explaining all the options and giving you confidence to make the right decisions.
- Helping you focus on what’s important in the long-term.
- Helping you balance financial and emotional costs with what you want to achieve.
- Working with others to find the right approach and the best solutions for you.
- Managing stress in what can be an already stressful situation.
Resolution members were also set to attend a Lobby Day in Parliament, meeting with MPs and campaigning for no fault divorce, amongst other issues.
No Fault Divorce
According to official statistics, well over 200,000 people go through divorce in England & Wales every year. The annual figures regularly show that most divorces are granted on a fault-based fact, adultery or behaviour, rather than them being apart for two years or more.
Marriages break down for all sorts of reasons so having to point the figure at your spouse is not a recipe for a conciliatory end to a marriage.
Just under half of divorcing couples have a child or children under 16. Divorced couples must continue to parent. Having to rely on fault creates a bitter aftermath for the parties and their children.
There is certain resistance from some quarters to the introduction of no-fault divorce. However, society is not going to break down were it to come about. Plenty of other legal systems have ‘no fault’.
We are seeing growing pressure for change. Historically successive governments have not seen fit to introduce no-fault. If indeed, this administration’s policy is to try to keep disputes out of court, in my view no-fault would lead to less litigation and would be a more appropriate and amicable method of divorce.
Collaborative law
Going to court for a divorce is not your only option. There are many options to ending your relationship. One method is collaborative law. All collaborative lawyers are members of Resolution. How does it work?
Under the collaborative process, each person appoints their own collaboratively trained lawyer and you and your respective lawyers all meet together to work things out face to face. Both of you will have your lawyer by your side throughout the process and so you will have their support and legal advice as you go.
Collaborative lawyers like us believe that there is a better way to divorce than going through contested litigation. Feel free to contact us to find out more.