Do you have a general question? You may find the answer in this section of our website.
Separation and Judicial Separation
Separation
Separation is when parties to the marriage do not wish to live together but they do not want to get divorce or have their separation legally formalised in family court. They basically just do not live together. This agreement can simply be verbal, but it is usually evidenced in writing as a legal contract through solicitors in form of exchange of solicitor’s letters, separation deed or any other written document. The purpose of this written document is to establish that the parties to the marriage are separated and not living together. Parties usually tend to get this separation agreement written down to further proof their separation status for issues related to housing, children arrangements, benefits and other legal matters.
A separation written agreement should include evidence of the following;
- That the parties to the marriage have agreed to live separately and part;
- Which party will be living at the formal matrimonial home and who will meet the cost of the house;
- In the need of communication, how parties are going to communicate with each other;
- In need of other party visiting the house, how those visits will be arranged;
- If there are children then children arrangements need to be agreed and recorded as well as who is going to pay for their maintenance;
- Financial matters such as spouse maintenance, division of assets, liabilities, and any other financial commitments need to be agreed and recorded;
- In the circumstances if the parties want to end the marriage by divorce, then who is going apply for it and pay for the cost.
Judicial Separation
Judicial separation is a formal decree issued by the court which states that the parties to the marriage are no longer living together and are not required to live together unless they want to. However, one must not confuse this with divorce. Judicial separation is not a divorce. It is rather an option for people who have not been married for one year and wish to live apart from each other. It is also an option to people who do not wish to divorce each other due to religious reasons or the possibility of reconciliation but wish to live apart for now.
We at Sabeers Stone Green LLP understand that family related issues are very sensitive and delicate. Hence, they need to be handled sensitively with care and confidentiality. Our expert family solicitors can have a consultation with you and advise you and represent you in your family matters so that you can be less stressful with legal side of matters.
Desertion, Separation for 2 years or 5 years Grounds For Divorce
Desertion, separation of 2 or 5 years as grounds for divorce require considerable period of delay, at least of two years in the first two and five years in the last one. Usually, due to such a long delay factor people do not tend to use these grounds much for obtaining divorce. Hence, they prefer to use unreasonable behaviour or adultery as grounds for divorce. For detailed information about unreasonable behaviour and adultery please read the articles on them, this can be found on this website.
Desertion
To be able to use desertion as a ground for divorce your husband or wife must have left you without your agreement and without a good reason in order to end your relationship. The intention to end the relationship must be present. This is called desertion and your spouse must have deserted you for more than 2 years in the past 2 and half years before you can apply for divorce. It should be noted that even though you have lived together for up to 6 months in this period you can still claim desertion.
It is highly recommended to use a specialist family solicitor who is an expert in divorce for advice before you apply for divorce using desertion as a ground. Our family specialist solicitors at Sabeers Stone Greene LLP will be more than happy to advice and represent you in your divorce proceedings.
Separation for more than 2 years
In order to use this ground for divorce you must have lived apart from each other for more than 2 years and it is essential that both you and your spouse agree to the divorce.
It should be noted that the agreement from your spouse must be in writing. Couples who mutually want to get divorce after separation of more than two years usually use this ground for divorce.
Separation for more than 5 years
Using this ground for divorce is beneficial for those couples who are living apart for a long time and due to religious reasons the husband or the wife refuses to give divorce. In these set of circumstances having lived apart for more than 5 years is all that is needed to get you your divorce, even if your spouse disagrees with the divorce. It should be noted that with this ground of more than 5 years of separation an agreement from your spouse for divorce is not required, whereas, in the above mentioned previous ground of separation of more than 2 years a written agreement to divorce is required from your spouse.
It is extremely important to understand that each case is different, which is why is always best to take an expert legal advice. Our expert family solicitors at Sabeers Stone Green LLP are available to advise you and represent you with your divorce and make sure that your divorce procedure can be as much stress free as it can be possible.
MOVING CHILDREN ABROAD
Sometimes children in life have to face moving away from where they are born and/or brought up due to their parents changing circumstances or better job/business opportunities. Parents can also want to do this due to their desire to go back home to their own country.
In these circumstances the court has to consider and take in to account number of factors when they have such challenging and life changing decisions to make for children. The following is not an exhaustive list of factors court will consider;
- The reason why parents want to move? Is it a genuine reason?
- What will be the effects of refusing parents request for move?
- What will be the effects on the children of refusing such a move request?
- What is the country where they are proposing to move? Will it be suitable for children? Will it have similar facilities as UK? The court will most importantly have to determine if the proposed country is safe or dangerous?
- Another major factor to be considered would be how this proposed move will effect the child’s relationship with the separated parent? How a contact will be maintained and will it be sufficient?
All these important factors are very serious and would need to be considered properly and thoroughly before any decision can be made by the court. We at Sabeers Stone Greene LLP need you to understand that we are with you in every step of the way, whether you are asking the court to allow your move from the UK or if you’re preventing such a move from the UK. These situations are very distressful for any parent to go through. Hence, our specialist family solicitor’s team take out the time to discuss your circumstances in detail before taking matters to court. We can advise you and represent your case in the best way possible from the beginning till the end.
GRANDPARENTS’ RIGHTS
It is quite unfortunate that these days many grandparents do not get the opportunity to chip in to the lives of their grandchildren. Most of the times grandparents get to see their grandchildren for few hours and they try to make the most of it in that given time. However, sometimes as grandparents you can approach the courts in regards to contact applications for your grandchildren.
It must be noted that unless you have record of your grandchildren living with you for a reasonable amount of time before you consider making a contact application you would need the permission from court to make such an application. Once the permission has been granted to make an contact application in regards to your grandchildren, the courts will then consider what contact and if any contact should be allowed between you and your grandchildren.
Usually this procedure would involve an assessment of you, the children and the children’s parents to assess what is the best for everyone particularly the children. This assessment is carried out by the court order. This would involve deciding what contact should be allowed, e.g. direct contact or indirect contact. Direct contact would involve seeing and spending time with children whereas, indirect contact would involve sending children letters, gifts or communicating with them via Skype or other modern means of communications.
Grandparents can also apply to court for permission to apply for residence order, a special guardianship order or even an adoption order. However, all these order will only be granted in very limited and certain circumstances. For the purposes of illustration, if a grandchild is subject to care proceedings brought by the social services department then grandparents might be suitable for taking care of children and living with them if parents are not able to or capable of taking care of their own children. As mentioned above there would be a need for a detailed assessment to be carried out by the court order so that the court then has complete information to make a formative and best decision for the children in question.
We at Sabeers Stone Greene LLP understand this is a very stressful phase for anyone to go through; hence, we are there with you every step of the way. Our specialist family team of solicitors can advise you and represent your case in the best way possible and keep the costs down as much as possible.
ADOPTION
Adoption is one of very sensitive and serious matters that a court can decide about a child in question. Adoption provides for a child to become part of a new family, where all parental responsibilities including duties, rights, authorities and etc are passed on to the adoptive parents. This meaning that the natural parents at that stage lose all their parental responsibilities. It should be highlighted that once a adoption order is made then it is very rarely to be discharged.
There are two main ways adoption can take place:
- First option is when the social services department and court in care proceedings might see adoption as the best future for a child. This means that child in question will live away from its family and loses all ties with its natural family for the rest of their life;
- Second option is private adoptions. This is where step parents or grandparents may apply to adopt a child. However, adoption orders are taken very seriously by the courts and the courts will always look at all the other options available before making a decision on adoption.
We at Sabeers Stone Greene LLP can assist you in these stressful and complicated matters in number of ways explained below:
- For example, if the social services department want to apply for a adoption order or a placement order for your child, step child or grandchild then you can object to this by putting forward your own solution as to where you think the child in question should live.
- If you as a parent have received notice of a placement order application then you can object the plans of the social services department subject to you having changed things around. So if you have improved your life since the court order was made then you can ask permission to oppose the order or to revoke it.
- Moreover, you may wish to have contact with your child who is being adopted despite any order so that you can remain in contact with the adopted child.
Please note that the points above are examples only and each case is different. Therefore, we at Sabeers Stone Greene LLP are available to advice and represent you through all stages of the adoption process.