diy divorce and clean break agreement

my wife has moved out and rented her own place, the house is in my name our 17 yr old son has stayed with me, we want to get divorced but not involve solicitors. I have made her an offer (money wise) as a final settlement (which she has agreed to) so we can both move on and draw a line under our marriage. Has anybody done their own divorce and clean break settlement themselves? How did you go about it?

I have never yet known anyone successfully obtain a court order for a clean break without the help of a solicitor. It is too technical and the risks are too great for a DIY litigant to be able to do this successfully. Getting a divorce is another matter. Many people can and do obtain a divorce without using a solicitor. Of course, whether they should obtain decree absolute or whether they would be prejudiced by doing so before financial issues are formally and finally settled is hardly ever mentioned in such cases. Taking legal advice before applying for decree absolute (or allowing the other spouse to do so) is also sensible but it is impossible to know how many DIY litigants ignore this or are simply not aware of it.

What if we were to get a solicitor to draft a letter saying the payment I give to her is a full and final settlement which we both sign and have witnessed and have a copy each? Would that protect us both after the divorce has been finalised? All we want to do is put this behind us with the least amount of bother and the sooner the better.

When my ex wife and I divorced, we came to a mutual agreement over our financial split, she had a solicitor acting for her and got them to draw up a consent order. I engaged a solicitor just to look over it to make sure I wasn’t being stitched up with legal jargon and it went to court and was approved. I dont know how much it cost her as she short herself in the foot by going down the legal aid route and getting her solicitor to do a lot of work, then realised that she didn’t qualify as she had moved in with her bloke. I think it cost me a half an hour of the solicitors time just to check it over for me.

It shouldn’t cost too much, agree that one of you gets a solicitor to draw it up and the other get a different solicitor to check it says what you want it to (I don’t think that the solicitor can act for both of you) and agree to split the overall cost between you. As long as the financial split you agree is fair then you shouldn’t have a problem.

Thanks for the reply, I`ll look into it. If we did what I said earlier though would it have to go to court? And if it didn`t would it be legal?

>>If we did what I said earlier though would it have to go to court?

Yes, if you want it to final. If you are both agreed then that is just a matter of drawing up the agreement in the form of a court order and submitting it to the court for approval. There is no reason why either of you should actually have to attend court. The court will treat it as a matter of paperwork and if it is broadly fair there should be no problem.

>>And if it didn`t would it be legal?

If you didn't formalise it as above then you run the risk that what you thought was a final agreement could be re-opened at any time as you would probably find to your cost if you won the lottery, inherited money or whatever.

This is one of the perils of DIY divorce. Many people who do it don't realise that financial issues are separate and have to be dealt with formally if you want proper closure.

Thank you most helpful will contact a solicitor to get this put into a consent order