Cheshire's Top Five Delayers

Disputes over houses, kids, cars, debts and pensions are the top five divorce-delayers in Cheshire.

But the reasons behind each one are not as might be expected, says leading family lawyer Shelley Hesford of law firm SAS Daniels LLP, which has offices in Stockport, Macclesfield, Chester, Congleton, and Bramhall.

“With houses it can be one party wanting to delay the sale to get the best price in a slowly improving market; with kids it can even be trying to unload them rather than gain custody, while, perhaps irrationally, cars can be amongst the most emotive: I’ve seen bigger disputes over who gets the Porsche than who gets the children,” said Shelley Hesford.

“As for debts, it’s sometimes actually those debts that have contributed to the marriage split anyway – and much of the battle can be over establishing reasonable shared responsibility for debts.

“But amongst the most prolonged are those that involve pensions: the husband has usually been the prime earner, and so has often contributed most to the pension, and inevitably wants to keep it.”