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We offer expert legal advice about separation agreements.
If you have separated from your spouse but you are not yet ready to get a divorce, you can make a separation agreement.
A separation agreement sets out the arrangements you and your ex-partner have made regarding money, property and child care. It can include things such as how you are going to divide any savings, who the children will live with and what will happen to the family home.
For couples who want to get divorced immediately, a separation agreement won't be necessary.
A separation agreement is not legally binding but if you do get divorced, the court will consider the arrangement you have previously agreed to.
We will write a separation agreement to best fit your particular circumstances. For example you may want a separation agreement to include:
Our family law solicitors offer a hourly rate for separation agreements, starting from £210 per hour.
Some people do not want to start divorce proceedings straight away. This could be for any number of reasons, such as being unable to afford separate households, or wanting to rely on two years' separation when getting a divorce. Alternatively there may be a property that has fallen into negative equity, making it necessary to delay the divorce.
In the meantime, you and your ex-partner need to make important decisions about your finances, property and children. Even if you are still living together, you need to figure out issues such as who is going to pay the bills, who will stay in the family home when the divorce does go through, and even which rooms each person is allowed to use while you live together in the same house.
When you reach an understanding, you can formally record your arrangement in writing with a separation agreement. It's helpful to think of it as an interim agreement, so that when you do get a divorce it will be mirrored in the divorce financial settlement.
If you are separated but living together in the same house, we can advise you on how to maintain separate households under the same roof, and the implications this might have if you do decide to divorce in the future.
To be separated in the eyes of the law, you must be 'maintaining separate households'. This is the legal way of saying that you must lead separate lives, despite the fact you are living under the same roof. In order to comply with the legal definition, you must no longer share the day to day activities of the household, such as:
If you are living together and you plan to divorce later on the basis of separation, the court will want to see that you are maintaining separate households.
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The family law team at Co-op Legal Services includes specialist family solicitors, divorce solicitors and children law solicitors with Resolution accreditation and accredited experts in child abduction, co-habitation, domestic abuse, property disputes, high net worth money matters and financial advocacy.
Resolution is a national organisation of family lawyers committed to non-confrontational divorce, separation and other family problems.
As part of the Co-op Group, our values of openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others are core to the service we provide.
Co-op Legal Services has over 600 staff working in different businesses with offices in Manchester, Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sheffield and London.