Divorce Lawyers & Family Solicitors Guildford, Surrey

The legal minimum under the no-fault system is 26 weeks (around six months). That includes a mandatory 20-week reflection period after your application is issued, then a further six-week wait before the Final Order.

In practice, most divorces involving finances or children take 12 to 18 months once you factor in court backlogs and the time it takes to reach agreement. A divorce where both sides agree on everything will always be faster.

You’re not legally required to use one for the divorce application itself. But most people benefit significantly from legal advice, particularly when finances or children are involved. The divorce is just the mechanism for ending the marriage. It doesn’t automatically sort out money or child arrangements.

Many people who go through it without a solicitor realise later that their financial settlement was less than they were entitled to, or that they never secured a binding financial order, which leaves them exposed to future claims. Our first conversation is free. Use it to understand your position before you decide.

No-fault divorce was introduced in England and Wales in April 2022. It means you no longer need to give a reason or assign blame, and your spouse can’t block it. You make a statement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. The court accepts this without investigation. Either one spouse can apply alone, or both can apply jointly. It’s made the beginning of the process less adversarial, though financial and children matters still need to be worked out separately.

The family home is a matrimonial asset and goes into the overall financial settlement. The main options are one party buying out the other, selling and splitting the proceeds, or a deferred sale, often used when children are young and stability matters. What makes sense depends on the full financial picture: what else exists, what each party needs to live on, and what the children’s situation requires. Agreeing something informally isn’t legally binding, and informal arrangements often create problems later.

A consent order is a legally binding document recording the financial agreement between divorcing spouses, approved and sealed by the court. Without one, either party can make a financial claim against the other at any point in the future, even years or decades after the divorce. We advise every client to get a consent order, even where the separation is entirely amicable. It’s one of the most important steps people miss, and one of the most consequential.

Child arrangements in private family law are governed by the Children Act 1989. The court’s primary consideration is always the welfare of the child above everything else. Where parties can’t agree, they must first attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) before making a court application, unless safety concerns or other exemptions apply.

A court then makes a Child Arrangements Order setting out where the child lives and how much time they spend with each parent.

A solicitor advises and represents you. They act in your interests and yours alone. A mediator is neutral; they help both parties reach agreement but don’t represent either side and can’t give legal advice to either. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Many clients use mediation to agree on the key issues, then instruct solicitors to draft the binding documents and check that what’s been agreed is actually fair. We can talk through which approach makes sense for your situation.

Not always. It depends on what type of application is being made and how the case progresses. Usually, the person making the application pays the court fee upfront. In children matters, that fee is currently £255 for a Child Arrangements Order application (as of 2025).

Legal costs are generally separate, meaning each parent normally pays their own solicitor’s fees. Unlike some other areas of law, family courts do not routinely order one parent to pay the other’s legal costs unless someone has behaved unreasonably or failed to comply with court orders.

Before court proceedings begin, parents are usually expected to try mediation first unless there are concerns around domestic abuse, urgency, or other recognised exemptions.

In England and Wales, the starting point is usually a 50/50 division of matrimonial assets, but that does not automatically mean everything is split equally. The court looks at what is fair based on the specific circumstances of the marriage.

That includes things like the length of the marriage, each person’s income and earning capacity, pensions, property, childcare responsibilities, and future financial needs. In cases involving children, housing stability often becomes a major factor.

Assets can include far more than just the family home. Pensions, businesses, savings, investments, inherited wealth, and overseas property can all become relevant. Every financial settlement should be looked at as a whole, not asset by asset in isolation.

You’re not legally required to use a solicitor, but it’s usually advisable. Separation agreements often deal with finances, property, living arrangements, and sometimes children. If the agreement is vague, incomplete, or unfairly drafted, problems tend to emerge later.

A properly prepared agreement gives both parties clarity about what has been agreed during the separation period. While separation agreements themselves are not automatically binding in the same way as a court order, courts are far more likely to uphold them when both people received independent legal advice and entered into the agreement freely.

For many couples, a separation agreement creates structure and certainty while they decide what happens next.

Yes, though it depends on the type of hearing and the level of court involved. Many family solicitors regularly represent clients at procedural hearings, directions hearings, and some interim applications themselves. In more complex hearings, particularly final hearings or High Court matters, a barrister may also be instructed to represent you in court.

If a barrister is needed, your solicitor remains involved throughout. They prepare the case, manage the evidence, brief the barrister, and continue advising you strategically from beginning to end. Most clients never have to organise that process themselves; we handle it for you.

Solicitors can only hold client money for legitimate legal reasons and must follow strict Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) rules when doing so. How long funds are held depends entirely on the purpose of the money.

For example, in a property transaction, funds may be held until completion takes place. In litigation or family matters, money may sometimes be retained temporarily while payments, settlements, or court orders are being finalised. Solicitors cannot simply keep client funds indefinitely without proper justification.

You’re entitled to know what your money is being held for, where it is being held, and when it is expected to be released. A good solicitor explains this clearly from the outset.

Yes. You can change solicitors at any stage of a case if you’re unhappy with the advice you’re receiving, communication has broken down, or you no longer feel confident in the direction your matter is taking.

The new solicitor will usually obtain your file directly from your previous firm and take over conduct of the matter from there. In ongoing court proceedings, the court and the other side are formally notified of the change.

Many people hesitate because they worry changing solicitors will make things worse or delay the case. Sometimes the opposite is true. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s usually better to address it early rather than continue with advice you no longer trust.

Most solicitors keep client files for at least six years after a matter has concluded, though many firms retain them for longer depending on the type of case. Certain areas of law, particularly family matters involving children, wills and probate, or property transactions, may be kept for significantly longer because issues can arise many years later.

The exact retention period varies between firms and depends on legal, regulatory, and insurance requirements. Files are usually stored digitally, though older matters may still exist in paper form or archived storage.

If you need documents from an old matter, you can always ask the firm directly. Even where a full file has been destroyed in line with retention policies, key documents are likely still recoverable.