Can you sell a house with a Home Rights Notice?

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Once a Home Rights Notice is registered with the Land Registry, it creates a restriction on the property’s title. This effectively blocks the sale of the house until the Notice is removed.

A prospective buyer conducting a search will be alerted that a non-owning spouse has a Notice on the property. This warning is likely to deter them from proceeding with the purchase.

A Notice can only be removed by the agreement of both parties, a Court Order, the death of either party, or the divorce becoming final when the Home Rights cease to exist.

How to minimise the negative impact of divorce on children.

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Research emphasises that cooperative co-parenting can significantly minimise the negative impact of divorce on children. Here are our tips for helping kids through divorce.

Keep to stable, predictable and reliable arrangements.

Avoid any conflict in front of the child. Do not speak badly about the other parent in front of the child.

Minimise any changes in the child’s routine.

Listen to the childs concerns, and accept how they feel.

Show love and reassure the child that the divorce is not their fault.

Finally, work with the other parent to ensure consistency and a united front.

What steps can I take if a parent is refusing to hand over a child's passport?

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Where one parent refuses to hand over a child’s passport for a holiday it is possible to apply to the Court for a Specific Issue Order. In cases where the travel dates are imminent, it may be possible to make an urgent application.

A Specific Issue Order can order the uncooperative parent to release the passport, and this can be enforced through penalties such as fines.

In the event that retrieval of the passport fails, it may be possible to apply for a replacement passport and submit the court order to the Passport Office to bypass the other parents consent.

What should I include in a Schedule of Outgoings?

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During the process of financial disclosure in divorce it is necessary to provide a Schedule of Outgoings. A Schedule is a detailed list of a person’s essential and non-essential monthly outgoings.

When creating a Schedule, it is important that precise actual figures are used, rather than assumptions or estimates. A good way to obtain this information is by reviewing the previous year of bank statements to identify regular outgoings, and infrequent expenses.

Essential outgoings include housing, transportation, childcare, food, financial obligations such as debt repayment, and essential bills.

A common mistake that is often made when preparing a Schedule, is to forget to include minor daily expenses, or irregular and occasional outgoings. These could include outgoings like health insurance, personal expenses, pet care, lunches at work, car maintenance, holidays, or annual subscriptions.

By being realistic and thorough in the preparation of a Schedule of Outgoings, you will gain clarity over your current financial commitments, and your future financial and income needs.

Is it possible to divorce without financial disclosure?

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If you only want to end your marriage without dealing with financial matters, financial disclosure is not required. If, however you also want to resolve financial matters, then you must provide financial disclosure.

Without disclosure, a Court cannot approve a financial settlement even if an agreement is reached outside of court.

Financial disclosure allows the parties, and the court to assess the total available assets, and whether the proposed financial agreement is fair to both parties.

Whilst skipping financial disclosure may save time in some divorce cases; it also has its risks. It leaves financial matters unresolved, and exposes both parties to potential legal and financial consequences long after their divorce is made final.

How do I know if my divorce settlement is final?

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A financial settlement in divorce will only become final and legally binding when a court formally approves it as a financial order. Once a court has approved a divorce financial settlement, they will send out a sealed copy of the financial order which acts as official confirmation that all financial matters are settled and legally binding.

Without a sealed financial order, financial claims between a couple remain alive, even after the divorce process is finalised.

Am I responsible for my spouse's debts?

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Generally, a debt remains the responsibility of the person who took it out. That means that one spouse or civil partner cannot be held legally liable for debts incurred solely by the other. This applies to debts such as credit cards, loans, store cards and overdrafts.

A debt incurred for family expenses, or for the benefit of the family (such as a family holiday), may be considered a joint liability in some cases.

During divorce proceedings, a court may consider these debts as shared responsibilities, even if they’re in one spouse’s name.

What is the Pension Tracing Service?

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The service helps people locate lost, forgotten or undisclosed pension funds. It enables individuals to search a database of more than 320,000 pension scheme contact details to find information about their old pensions.

The service is particularly helpful where one spouse is not being honest about their pension assets. If you have your spouse’s national insurance number, an application can be made to the Court to search against all of your spouse’s past and current employers.

The search will not provide the value of the pension, but it will confirm whether pensions exist, and where to write for more information.

Does an unmarried father have parental responsibility?

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An unmarried father does not automatically have parental responsibility for his child in England and Wales. He will have parental responsibility in the following situations.

If he is named on the child’s birth certificate at the time of registration of the birth.

If the father marries the child’s mother after the birth, he will gain parental responsibility.

If the father enters into a Parental Responsibility agreement with the child’s mother.

If the father obtains a Parental Responsibility Order, or a Child Arrangements Order.

Can we use the same lawyer for a divorce?

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Using the same lawyer is possible for couples who are largely in agreement on major issues, and want to reach a fair settlement without going to court. The lawyer aims to provide impartial, balanced, and neutral guidance on issues like the division of assets and property, and arrangements for children.

The parties are jointly given legal advice, information and options to help them negotiate a settlement which the lawyer then incorporates into a legally binding agreement.

Receiving joint legal advice is a far more cost-effective, and amicable way for couples wishing to end their relationship.

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The Family Law Specialists is the trading name of The Family Law Specialists Limited, a private limited company registered in England & Wales under company number 15318261 with the registered office at, 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX. We do not accept service of proceedings. © The Family Law Specialists. All rights reserved.

This website is not intended to offer legal advice so do not act upon any of its content without taking specific advice.

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