{"id":600,"date":"2017-09-07T11:05:45","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T11:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/?p=600"},"modified":"2020-05-12T14:24:04","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T14:24:04","slug":"10-reasons-why-you-need-a-family-law-solicitor-to-check-your-divorce-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/09\/07\/10-reasons-why-you-need-a-family-law-solicitor-to-check-your-divorce-petition\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons Why You Need A Family Law Solicitor To Check Your DIY Divorce Petition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is a DIY\u00a0divorce petition worth the risk? Every year countless petitions are rejected by the Court, and anxiety and delay are experienced.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Doing it yourself means you miss out on\u00a0expert legal advice<\/a>\u00a0regarding\u00a0financial issues\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0children<\/a>. And a family solicitor can help if you are at loggerheads by guiding you towards an amicable agreement with the help of\u00a0mediation<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0collaborative law<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It doesn’t have to be expensive to speak to an\u00a0experienced family law solicitor<\/a>. But please make sure you find a solicitor who offers “Pay As You Go Advice<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

How Hard Can It Be To Get A DIY Divorce Petition Right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why do DIY divorce petitions get sent back by the Court? A common problem is service. Perhaps you don’t know the respondent’s address, or failed to check the process server’s statement of service is correct, or named the co respondent but failed to serve them. You might have forgotten to ask for your costs to be paid. You might have overlooked the option to apply for a\u00a0financial order<\/a>. Or you might simply have forgotten to tick a box.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When it comes to applying for a\u00a0financial order<\/a>, you may think it\u2019s a simple “Yes\/No” answer. But are you sure you know all your legal rights? You don\u2019t want to miss out on a fair share of the pensions, or the business, or to be left with your ex\u2019s debts. You could end up regretting your\u00a0DIY financial agreement<\/a>\u00a0for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Even if you have an agreement about the finances there can be serious implications if you don’t have a Court order recording it, because your ex can change his or her mind, or can come back for more. And did you know it’s risky applying for a\u00a0Decree Absolute\u00a0<\/a>(which brings your marriage to an end) before you have a Court order?<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Legal definitions in the divorce petition can be confusing. Your “habitual residence” or “domicile” may not be immediately clear to you because both can change over time and according to your particular circumstances.\u00a0If you\u00a0are an\u00a0international family<\/a>\u00a0this can be a complication.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s The Worst Thing That Can Happen to a DIY Divorce Petition?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. \u00a0 \u00a0 Your DIY divorce\u00a0petition can fail completely because you haven\u2019t chosen the right reason for your DIY\u00a0divorce<\/a>, or not given sufficient detail. In my\u00a0last blog<\/a>\u00a0I talked about the recent case of Owens v Owens which says the Court can refuse a divorce if the Respondent defends and the petition isn\u2019t strong enough, particularly in the case of unreasonable behaviour.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you belatedly discover you\u2019ve ticked the wrong box, or if you want to strengthen your DIY divorce petition, the only option is to apply to amend it. But amending a petition is not only costly \u2013 an extra \u00a395 Court fee – it\u2019s time consuming and fiddly too.<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0 Finally, you may be in agreement about the\u00a0children<\/a>\u00a0but there\u2019s no option to record this in the petition. It may be worthwhile having a word with a\u00a0family law solicitor<\/a>, particularly in the case of\u00a0international families<\/a>. Otherwise you might find yourself accused of\u00a0child abduction<\/a>\u00a0(an imprisonable office).<\/p>\n

Contact us on 01962 217640 for a\u00a0free telephone consultation<\/a>\u00a0on this or any other family law issue<\/h4>\n

JUST FAMILY LAW<\/em><\/a>\u00a0are specialist divorce and family law solicitors offering\u00a0<\/em>personalised legal solutions<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Visit our website\u00a0<\/em>just-family-law.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The topics covered in this blog post are complex and are provided for general guidance only. If any of the circumstances mentioned in this blog might have application to you, you should seek expert legal advice.<\/p>\n

“Owl” by\u00a0Mark Coleman<\/a>\u00a0on Flickr<\/p>\n

“Eagle Owl” by\u00a0M Shattock\u00a0<\/a>on Flickr<\/p>\n

“Owl” by\u00a0Chris Page<\/a>\u00a0on Flickr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is a DIY\u00a0divorce petition worth the risk? Every year countless petitions are rejected by the Court, and anxiety and delay are experienced. 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Doing it yourself means you miss out on\u00a0expert legal advice\u00a0regarding\u00a0financial issues\u00a0and\u00a0children. And a family solicitor can help if you are at loggerheads by guiding you towards an amicable agreement with the help of\u00a0mediation\u00a0or\u00a0collaborative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[101],"tags":[204,195,199,76,201,197,196,202,203,200],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.just-family-law.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}