Divorce help

Hi,

Sorry for the possible long post and if it contains irrelevant information. Just in past month my wife feels we want different things from life and suggested we separate and in last week that has changed to divorce. She wants to move back down to South of Uk and we currently reside in North-East of UK

Our current situation is

Length of marriage: 4.5 years
House value : £200k
Mortgage : £137k
Debts: £12k loan
No children

What we have agreed between us to be acceptable to both us is

I keep house (but also inherit) the debts (as long as mortgage lender agrees and subject to Transfer of Equity)
She receives a lump sum approx £14-15k
Neither of us claim for any pensions, savings either during marriage or in future. Both want to try and get as clean a break as possible

What I would like to know is if we have agreed this between us

1) how can we go about informing relative parties, this is what we would like to happen?
2) can our agreement be ignored and changed by a third party?
3) what order do we do things timeline wise - transfer of equity, divorce petition etc?

My head is in a bit of a spin and every time I read/think about it online there seems to be more questions

Many thanks

The answer is simple. First you get a divorce and progress that divorce to decree nisi. At the same time you draw up (or rather get drawn up) the agreement you have reached in the form of a court order. You both sign that document and when decree nisi is pronounced in the divorce you submit the draft court order that you have signed to the court for approval. When the court approves the draft it becomes a court order and the financial issues arising from the marriage are formally and finally settled by that court order. You should not transfer any property or pay any lump sum until you have that court order. Once you do you can then implement it by transferring the property and paying the lump sum. If you do it any other way you will find (a) that it is not final, (b) you run the risk that your wife asks for more when eventually you do get around to a court order and (c) it will take forever to resolve because your wife will no longer have any incentive to hurry. These problems can be avoided by doing it in the way I have described.

Thanks David for the swift and informative reply.

Sorry for the basic questions ,

How do we start getting divorced, but how do we go about getting the draft court order?

Many thanks

Get a solicitor to do it for you, if it is simple and you are both in agreement it shouldn’t cost a fortune and everything will be done correctly

Thanks for the info - very helpful

Cheers