Benefit From Our Experienced Solicitors

The breakdown of a relationship, whether a marriage or civil partnership, can be a very stressful time, emotionally and financially. Our highly experienced solicitors are on hand to offer you the advice and guidance necessary to resolve the financial implications that may arise as effectively and as amicably as possible. You will be advised on all options open to you, including negotiations between solicitors, four way meetings between parties and their solicitors, mediation or, if all else fails, court proceedings.

Get Your Fair Share

When parties separate, assets and debts accumulated during the course of the marriage or civil partnership will require to be shared fairly between the parties. Stodarts will work with you to achieve what is fair based on your own individual circumstances, in the way that is right for you. We can provide you with tailored advice on how best to share your assets and debts, from property transfers or sales, to pension sharing and lump sum payments as well as month to month financial management such as ongoing mortgage payments, child maintenance and periodical allowance or aliment. You will be provided with the support and advice needed to achieve the best settlement possible.

The Long Term

We will also advise you about how your separation or divorce affects your Will and who is entitled to inherit your estate. It is always a good idea to make a new Will when you separate. We can also refer you to other professionals, such as financial advisors, where needed.

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Establishing the Grounds

In Scotland, you can apply for a Divorce or Dissolution of a Civil Partnership if you have been separated from your spouse or civil partner for at least 1 year, provided your spouse or civil partner will provide their consent to the action. If they are not prepared to consent, then you must be separated for at least 2 years before you bring the marriage or civil partnership to an end, or alternatively, if your spouse or civil partner has acted unreasonably during the course of your marriage or civil partnership, you may have grounds to raise proceedings at any time after separation. In some cases, you may be able to use Simplified Procedure (sometimes known as a “Do it Yourself” divorce). If you are not sure whether you have grounds to raise an action for Divorce or Dissolution of Civil Partnership, our solicitors will be happy to discuss this with you. You can also find further information here.

Rely On Our Expert Service

At Stodarts, we have considerable experience dealing with such actions in court. Our solicitors are organised and thorough and you can rest assured that your case will be handled in the most effective way possible to achieve a successful outcome.

Organised, Efficient and Effective

As well as seeking decree of divorce or dissolution of civil partnership, any action can also include requests for financial orders to be made, or contact and residence orders for children to be made, where these have not been capable of resolution prior to the raising of the action. Please speak to one of our solicitors to identify what type of action may be right for you.

Claims Deadline

Where you have lived with a partner without entering into a marriage or civil partnership, you may have a valid financial claim if your ex-partner has benefited financially as a result of contributions you have made. You only have one year following your separation to make your claim so please contact one of our solicitors for advice as early as possible.

Achieve a Positive Outcome

At Stodarts, we have undertaken regular training to ensure that we are able to provide you with the most up to date advice and guidance in what is an evolving area of law. We will guide you through the legislation in order to identify whether you have any claim, what the value of your claim may be and how best to achieve a positive outcome. This will sometimes involve entering into a Minute of Agreement, or taking court action.

Claims after Death

If your cohabitant partner has passed away without making a Will, you may also be able to make a claim on the estate provided you do so within 6 months of the date of death. Our solicitors are on hand to provide you with the advice and guidance you need to ensure you receive what you are entitled to.

Separation Agreements

When parents separate from one another, there is often no agreement about where the children of the relationship should live and how often they should see their other parent.

Child-Centred and Considerate

We appreciate that disputes surrounding children can be extremely emotional and difficult for our clients. The decisions and arrangements put in place require careful consideration given that they are likely to be in place throughout childhood.

We work hard to achieve an outcome that ensures our clients can maintain the vital relationships they have with their children.

Achieving the Best Result

Our family lawyers are passionate about reaching arrangements that work for our clients and their children, whilst always keeping the best interests of the children in mind. As a firm, we always try to encourage our clients to reach a negotiated settlement about residence and contact arrangements as we strongly believe that routines for children work best when the parents have made the final decision themselves.

There are a range of options available to assist you to do this including family mediation, negotiating through solicitors, or attending a meeting with both parents and their solicitors. In cases where this does not work, all of our family law solicitors have experience of raising and defending actions for residence and contact in court. Your solicitor will keep you fully informed of how the process works and will give you detailed advice about the various court hearings you will need to attend.

Establish and Protect your Legal Rights

For people who intend to adopt children, or who arrange to have children through a surrogacy arrangement, it is extremely important that a court order is obtained to ensure that the correct people hold legal rights and responsibilities for those children.

Prompt Attention

In the case of parental orders that are needed for surrogacy arrangements, the application must go into court within six months of the child being born and it is important that legal advice is obtained as quickly as possible, ideally before the birth of the child.

Smooth Process

Both actions involve various reports and court hearings and our family law solicitors would be happy to talk you through what this involves and give you advice about this significant step to ensure that the process is as smooth as possible.

Take Action Early

A pre-nuptial agreement should be carefully considered at an early stage before the marriage and can be very worthwhile especially for people entering into second marriages or for those that have assets to protect, including gifts from third parties or inheritances.

Cohabitation agreements, used where a couple live together but are not married, can set out expectations for payment of various items during the relationship as well as what should happen if the relationship comes to an end.

Certainty, Security and Clarity

Having an agreement in place gives certainty and security to a couple for the future and can save a significant amount of money in the future in the unfortunate event that a separation does occur. Our solicitors are accustomed to preparing agreements for clients and can give you advice about what you need to consider so that you can be sure the end agreement is one that meets your particular needs.