Divorce Instructions start fast and early

Cheshire law firm SAS Daniels LLP has seen its busiest-ever start to January in terms of divorce proceedings opened.

“We would normally expect one divorce instruction per solicitor per week, but one member of the family team had two instructions as soon as we opened for business on Monday, January 5, 2009 – and the rest of the team have been reporting between three and five instruction per week since the beginning of December,” said Sandra Sinclair, senior partner, based in Stockport.

“That level of instruction is unprecedented – January is always busy for divorces, but we would not normally expect to get busy until the second working week of the month.

“Within the firm we have been gearing up to what we refer to as D-Day – Divorce Day – on Monday, January 12, 2009, but things are developing far earlier than we expected.

“The reasons behind divorce are often, though not always, based on money problems having pushed a relationship to breaking point. And it’s blindingly obvious that a large part of the population has money worries.

“From first contact with one of our solicitors to the instigation of proceedings has been, on average, around two or three times as long in 2008 as in any previous year.

“In our experience, and going on the evidence of previous years, combining those factors means we can expect far more appointments than in recent years from couples who believe their marriage is beyond repair.

“But there is likely to be a great deal of hidden heartache – co-habitees living as a married couple are equally likely to split, but the statistics won’t show that.

“Nevertheless, there are still issues over children, property or money – and it can often be even more complicated because married couples and co-habitees have different right and responsibilities.

“This has been simmering for most of 2008. People have been delaying for a number of reasons – sometimes it’s simply a worry about the cost; many are concerned that divorcing when house prices are plummeting means they’ll lose a great deal of money from what they view as an inevitable sale.

“Some are hoping their problems are a blip, but it’s not as simple as that: a working couple, for instance, may be suffering work worries – or highs and lows – at the same or different times, such has been the volatility of the employment market.

“Of course the key factor for many is their children – we know of a surprisingly high number of couples who had, very sadly, one last family Christmas together before mum and dad split up.

“’New Year, new start’ is something we’re hearing alarmingly often. But at least the advent of collaborative law – when our specially trained solicitors will help mediate an amicable split – means that most break ups will be as smooth and undramatic as possible, but no less tragic.”

For more information contact Sandra Sinclair