Prevention is better than cure

 

Kathleen Wyatt, has won a landmark Supreme Court bid to claim cash from her millionaire ex-husband, 20 years after they divorced.

This is a striking ruling that underlines the fact there is no time limit for ex-spouses to apply to a court for a financial settlement following a divorce - however weak their claim may be.
 
Whereas there are strict time limits in other claims, such as those for breach of contract or personal injury, these claims can clearly be made decades after the divorce itself.
 
The judgment is also a timely reminder that divorcing couples who want protection from such claims, even if they have no money at all, should obtain an order from the court at the time of the divorce, in which they both agree that there will be no further financial claims.

That is the only way to guarantee that, if one of them goes on to make a fortune, they get to keep it.

THE BACKGROUND

The much-watched case, which had already been through the Appeal Court, involved Kathleen Wyatt and Dale Vince.

The couple were married in 1981 and divorced 11 years later in 1992. During their marriage they had little or no income, leading what has been described in court as a "travellers' lifestyle".

Because they had little or no assets at the time they split, no "financial order" was made as part of the divorce.

Not arriving at a financial settlement – even when there were no assets – left open the possibility for one or other spouse to make a claim in the future. And there is no maximum period or "time bar" after which claims can't be brought before a court.

RAGS TO RICHES

During the Nineties Mr Vince went on to found Ecotricity, the renewable energy firm, and his personal wealth is now estimated at around £60m.

In 2011 Ms Wyatt launched her claim, and the case has since wound its way through numerous hearings.

Mr Vince's lawyers have argued consistently that she has no claim, based on the time elapsed since their divorce. They argued that the courts should throw out the claim as invalid.

An initial ruling that she would be entitled to a hearing was subsequently thrown out, bearing out this view.

But the Supreme Court has said she does have the right to bring a claim after all.

However, it must be noted that the claim was possible only because in the original 1992 divorce no financial settlement, technically called a "financial order", was made. This lack of settlement was what permitted Ms Wyatt to bring the case.

Prevention is better than cure in these circumstances and FLC recommends that divorcing couples should always reach a financial settlement, even where there are no assets.

SIGNIFCANT LEGAL COSTS

The judgement has so far been about the ex-spouse's right to bring a hearing, with the "guidance" applying only to the merits of this particular case.

Substantial costs will now be incurred in determining Ms Wyatt’s application, despite the fact that ultimately there is a possibility that no financial award will be made.

Even if ex-spouses in such cases do not go on to win large pay outs, costs will still be racked up.

And, in addition, under divorce laws, Mr Vince is having to pay Miss Wyatt's legal costs just to enable her to bring the claim to court, which had already topped £500,000.

Prevention, in some cases, is most definitely better than cure!

Divrce Loans at FLC

So you think you can’t afford to get divorced? Well, you can now.

 

Family Law Consultancy is pleased to offer a Divorce Loans facility.

 

Divorce loans are available to clients* who do not have the income to fund their case during the currency of their case, but have sufficient capital, usually tied up in equity in the former family home, which can be released at the end of their case, to pay back their divorce loan.

 

Funding options, like divorce loans and or fixed fees, both of which * are offered by Family Law Consultancy have evolved due to the need to bridge the funding gap caused by the government cuts in legal aid for family law cases since April 2013 when legal aid funding for the majority of family law cases was removed from scope.

 

Family Law Consultancy recognise that some people are now in the unfortunate position of wanting to get divorced, and deal with division of the marital assets, or for those people who are not married, separate from their partner, but cannot afford expert legal representation which, we believe is vital, if they are to achieve the best financial settlement in their case.   

 

Financial settlements endorsed by the court are in full and final settlement and therefore need to be dealt with by family law experts, as once the case is concluded it cannot, save in exceptional circumstances, be reopened, so with once chance only the financial settlement has to be the appropriate financial settlement and the way to achieve this is to have your case conducted by experts in the field.

 

Family law consultancy specialises solely in family law and boasts a wealth of family law expertise spanning almost a quarter of a century across its unrivalled and expert family law team, excelling in all areas of family law, in particular, matrimonial finances, disputes between parents concerning their children and interventions by the state seeking to remove children from their parents.

 

Affording the best legal advice however, can be prohibitive.  A fully contested Divorce and related financial case, for example, can run into thousands of pounds and the majority of people do not have sufficient spare funds to meet such expenses and this is why your case at Family law consultancy can potentially be funded via a divorce loan* so that our clients can afford the best legal advice to achieve the best financial settlement in their case.

 

A divorce loan does not need to be serviced during the currency of the case, so there are no monthly payments to worry about but the loan does need to be settled at the end of the case which generally means, selling the former family home and paying back the loan from the equity released upon sale **. 

 

Whilst selling the former family home is not always ideal, and in fact contrary to the courts approach historically, this might now be a typical outcome because without legal aid to fund family cases the funding options to secure expert legal advice and, as a result, achieve the appropriate financial settlements are limited.  

 

If you are in the position of needing to divorce or separate from your partner, and there are related financial matters to be resolved but you cannot afford to pay for expert legal advice from your income, and you cannot afford to service the monthly repayments of a standard commercial loan, then a Divorce loan might be your ideal solution ***.

 

If you are attracted by the idea of securing the best legal advice from Family Law Consultancy’s unrivalled and expert family law team to achieve the best financial settlement in your case, and on a fixed fee basis, then call us for a free initial appointment.

 

*subject to status and a successful application

** Divorce loans must be paid back at the end of your case and in most circumstances will be repaid following the sale of the former family home

*** In offering the divorce loan facility*, Family Law Consultancy are not recommending the divorce loan facility is the best funding option for your case

 

All the best Jack, welcome Danielle!

Jack Waters, one of our legal assistants is leaving us to pursue a new career and we wish him all the very best for the future. Jack joined us as temporarily, to cover for another employee who was on maternity leave but decided to stay, and we've very much enjoyed him being part of the team. Alas, all good things must come to an end and, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. With that in mind, we welcome Danielle to the firm and we hope she enjoys her time here and becomes as much an integral part of the team, as Jack did. All the best Jack and welcome Danielle!

New Services at FLC

FLC is pleased to announce a number of brand new services, including Mediation, Collaborative Law, Self Help Options, a greater range of Fixed Fees and the availability of Divorce Loans.

These alternative services give you greater choice, more flexibility and better control over the cost of your case, leading to better outcomes generally for you and your family.

We understand that finding the money to pay for legal representation can be difficult for many people, not least those who will now be affected by the loss of legal aid, and we hope that our new services will provide some affordable alternative options.

In particular, we have now developed a number of “Self Help Services”, to provide professional support and guidance, should you decide to ‘take the plunge’ and represent yourself.

Self Help Services – Affordable Legal Support

At Family Law Consultancy, we have always offered highly competitive rates and we were the first firm in the region, to the best of our knowledge, to offer the greater certainty and potential choice of fixed fees across our complete range of services. As far as we are aware, this is still currently the case.

Despite our efforts, in these trying economic times, and with the imminent demise of legal aid, we recognise that many more people will simply be unable to afford the benefits of full legal representation and will need to deal with their legal matter themselves. This is known as Self Representation (or sometimes as “acting as a Litigant in Person”).

We understand that this can be daunting, and we have therefore set up various more affordable legal support services to assist you if you are in this situation.

DIY with Support

A more affordable alternative to full legal representation is the ‘DIY’ option with legal support; this is to represent yourself and simply seek our advice as and when you need to. You will still become a formal client of the firm and a retainer will be created between us. However, we will not go on the court record as acting on your behalf and you will self represent, but you will still have the ability to consult us as and when you wish to do so, and you can instruct us to write letters on your behalf, draft documents and advise you at meetings and over the phone or by email.

For example, you may wish to ask us to prepare an application to the court for you and give you instructions on what to do next and how to represent yourself at the first hearing, or you might want to have ad hoc meetings and telephone chats with us as your case progresses.

Fixed fees will usually be available if you require an isolated piece of work to be done or a ‘one off’ appointment. Alternatively, if you wish to have occasional meetings and/or impromptu advice by telephone or email, you can choose to “Pay As You Go” on an hourly rate basis, and we will send you an invoice from time to time. You will need to place funds on account with us in advance for this service, but it does ensure that you only pay for what you use and helps to keep costs down, as you are doing as much of the work as you can and only using us when you feel you need to.

One important point to bear in mind with this level of service, however, is that there is an obligation on you to make sure that you provide us with all relevant information in respect of your case, as it may impact on the advice given to you. In contrast to our full representation service, we may not be kept fully ‘in the loop’ as to developments if you choose to self represent.

FLC Law Shop

We have now opened our “Law Shop” service. The Law Shop is an even more affordable alternative to using us to fully represent you and deal with other people on your behalf, or to choosing our “DIY with Support” option. The Law Shop provides legal advice and other professional support if you want to handle relatively simple legal matters yourself. You get face to face advice and help with legal forms from one of our qualified, regulated and insured lawyers at a lower cost than employing us as solicitors to act on your behalf and provide full representation.

The FLC Law Shop costs just £20 per 20 minute session, including VAT at 20%. It runs on Tuesdays from 2pm to 4pm and Thursdays from 10am to 12 noon. Sessions should be pre booked as they are subject to availability. Payment is required immediately at the start of the session.

The service covers verbal advice only during the face to face sessions and does not include any follow up work such as written confirmation of advice, letter or document preparation, phone calls, emails or representation during the case or at court. However, sessions can be used by anyone seeking help in drafting their own documents and letters.

Unfortunately, Law Shop rates cannot apply to clients using our full representation or “DIY with Support” services, due to the greater level of administrative work required for these services.

Online Options

As a cost effective alternative to our bespoke divorce representation service, we currently offer an online divorce package (presently £250 including VAT - court fees are payable on top), for those who wish to keep costs down by dealing with the divorce process themselves, but who would like a bit of help along the way. Our online divorce package is likely to be best suited to couples where both spouses agree that divorce is the next step, are willing to cooperate with each other during the divorce process, and there are unlikely to be any issues surrounding the divorce itself. The online service provides a document drafting service, together with our support and assistance for uncontested divorces, where there should be no need for any court hearings. It would not be suitable for a defended divorce or where there are other major issues arising from the separation.

You may find it helpful to learn a bit more about the divorce process and whether online divorce is right for you. A Guide and Step by Step information is available on our website via the following link: http://www.flc.uk.com/online-divorce-service.php

Other online services are being developed and updates will be published on our website when available.

Family Mediation

Finally, just a reminder about our new Family Mediation Service! Mediation can save stress, time and money, and help reach an agreement that works for you, in a neutral and comfortable setting. The mediation process is voluntary and confidential. Its aim is to help with joint decision making, so as to avoid any need to go to court. Freely negotiated agreements reached through effective mediation can help restore communication, understanding and trust, and lead to a much healthier long term outcome for all concerned, most importantly any children.

Mediation may not be suitable for everyone, but it is always well wrth considering, even if your initial thoughts are that it would not work in your case, as it can have many benefits and be a much more positive and cost effective way to resolve family difficulties.

Except in emergency or exceptional circumstances, the courts will also now expect anyone seeking to apply to the court to have at least attended an information meeting about mediation, before allowing an application to proceed.

Please note that we cannot provide mediation services to those who instruct us to provide legal advice and representation, or provide legal representation to those who engage our mediation service, due to the potential conflict of interests that could arise and the need for mediation to be impartial. We can, however, refer you to another local mediation service if you are a legal client of ours, or direct you to an independent legal advisor if you are using our own mediation service.

We hope you find our new services of interest. Please check our website from time to time for further developments, or call our office if you have any specific queries.

Why should I use a solicitor?

✔ Professionally qualified	✔ Experienced in their field of law
✔ Highly Regulated	✔ Fully Insured
✔ Legal Ombudsman scheme available	✔ Obliged to act in your best interests

These days, supermarkets, banks and a whole host of online / ‘non solicitor’ companies are offering legal services and cheap ‘quickie’ divorces; and they may be making all sorts of tempting promises, of ‘free’ advice and ‘low fees’, warning you against using ‘expensive’ solicitors that charge by the hour and will rack you up a huge bill.

Well, to a large extent, the old adage that ‘you get what you pay for’ still rings true - although it’s a myth peddled by these new commercial juggernaut companies that all traditional solicitor firms are out to rip you off. Naturally, it’s in their financial interests to entice you away from using your local high street solicitor and to spend your money with them instead. But will you really get a better deal with them?

At FLC, we have always offered a free initial consultation – with a fully qualified, experienced, highly regulated and insured solicitor, who can give you that crucial, face to face, initial advice you need – unlike the very probably unqualified and inexperienced call centre telephonist who answers your call to the ‘free advice helpline’ of one of these new legal service providers.

It has been suggested (by an MP no less - if you think they know what they’re talking about) that buying legal services should be as easy as buying a tin of baked beans. Well, you know what, we rather agree in some ways!

Initially, we thought the comparison was a bit ridiculous; finding the right legal advisor to support you and help you sort out a difficult and emotionally charged family situation could hardly be compared with buying a tin of beans now, could it?

But, actually, not all beans are the same. And, not all ‘legal advisors’ are the same.

Years ago, people started shopping at supermarkets for the convenience of getting everything under one roof. But where has this taken us? Many trusted local family owned butchers, grocers and bakers went out of business; but nowadays, they are becoming more sought after again, as people discover the benefits of buying fresh, local produce over supermarket food.

Growing numbers of shoppers are disillusioned with mass produced food. They want to know where their food comes from and to support local suppliers, especially in more rural areas. Tasteless food, packed with preservatives and wrapped in layers of packaging does little for our health, confidence in suppliers' ethics, or our wallets.

Supermarkets go to enormous lengths to pile food high and sell it cheap. Remember the horsemeat scandal? And just because something is labeled as ‘fresh’ doesn’t mean it is. Mass produced fruit and veg may be picked unripe and stored for several weeks before shipping, or pumped full of additives to appear fresher.

Locally produced food, by contrast, is likely to be on the shelves a day or two after harvesting, retaining far more nutrients. Local produce is fresher, tastier, healthier, better value, more ethical and environmentally friendly.

Smaller suppliers face a constant battle competing with the large supermarkets. By supporting local suppliers, you help to create and sustain jobs and a happier, more close-knit community. Incidentally, using fresh, local produce that looks and tastes great is a major ingredient in what sets Michelin star restaurants apart.

So, back to the beans; if you’ve ever bought the cheap economy / value range beans, you’ll know that they can often be a huge disappointment, with lots of thin and watery tomato sauce and only around half a can of fairly tasteless actual beans - very poor quality. Well, you do get what you pay for!

So, to use another food analogy, the proof in buying legal services is in the pudding. Can you really trust a supermarket or bank to deliver the highly personal service and considerable legal expertise that traditional solicitors’ firms have honed over many years of invaluable experience?

And why have these big businesses gone into legal services in the first place? They say they want to give great customer service where expensive traditional solicitors have (allegedly) failed. Hmm…, so the bottom line wouldn’t have anything to do with it then, would it?

Of course, we’re all in business to turn a reasonable profit. Let’s be frank about that. But since providing professional family law services has always been at the very heart of what we do, you won’t have to worry about us peddling insurance or financial products to you that you don’t need, or bombarding you with junk mail.

And to go back to the Michelin star restaurant metaphor, we only put the very best ingredients into our ‘product’ – properly trained solicitors with plenty of local knowledge and experience, who really are qualified to advise.

Finally, one has to marvel a little at the artifice in these new legal service providers’ claims of honesty and openness, and just wonder - if the so called terribly un-customer service friendly ‘rip off’ solicitors are not going to be employed by them to advise people – just who the heck is going to be providing the legal advice?

URGENT INFORMATION ABOUT LEGAL AID

If you are a current client with the benefit of legal aid or you have an appointment scheduled between now and 31 March 2013 and you are seeking legal aid, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you read this.

WITHDRAWAL OF LEGAL AID

Legal aid is being withdrawn by the government for most family law cases, except those involving domestic abuse or children being taken into care, as of the end of March this year. There are some other very limited exceptions, but on the whole the availability of legal aid will soon be greatly restricted.

We believe this has grave consequences for access to justice for many people, particularly those most vulnerable in society, and in common with The Law Society, Citizens Advice Bureau and many other advice services, lobbied against the reforms. However, the government, subject to some minor revisions, has determined that the reforms are to proceed and come into effect as of 1 April 2013.

If you are concerned about the withdrawal of legal aid from family law cases as detailed above, we suggest that you contact your local MP. If you would like to read a copy of our letter to Simon Wright MP raising concerns about the cuts to legal aid and the response from Jonathan Djanogly, who was at the time Justice Secretary, please follow the following link to our website:

http://familylawconsultancy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/legal-aid-update.html

Existing Clients with Public Funding

If you already have the benefit of a valid Public Funding Certificate, we will continue to act for you until the conclusion of your case or any earlier discharge of your Public Funding Certificate, for example if your financial circumstances change and you become financially ineligible for legal aid.

Current Clients on Legal Help and those who have appointments booked with us

If you are a current client or you have an appointment scheduled with us between now and 31 March 2013, we will be able to assist you under what is known as the Legal Help Scheme (subject to eligibility), which is a limited initial form of legal aid. However, the Legal Help Scheme will not cover any court proceedings. If you do need legal aid to cover court proceedings, please be aware that such funding will not be available after 31 March 2013, except in certain very limited circumstances as mentioned above.

Applications for further legal aid for court proceedings must be submitted by 31 March 2013. However, unless your case can be dealt with on an emergency basis, it may well not be possible to ensure that an application for legal aid is made on your behalf by this date. In most cases, you will be required to try to resolve your case through negotiation or mediation, before an application for full legal aid can be submitted. In addition, such applications also require completion of various application forms and provision of bank statements, payslips etc and other supporting documentation, which can take time to prepare. It is likely, therefore, that it will now be difficult, if not impossible, to submit an application for full legal aid for you by 31 March 2013.

If you are seeking legal aid and have an appointment booked with us, we will have given you the earliest appointment that is available. However, it is open to you, if you wish, to try and obtain an earlier appointment with an alternative advice provider. Please let us know if you decide to do so.

For existing clients in the process of attending mediation and/or engaging in negotiations and/or who have been sent Public Funding application forms for completion, we will do our best to assist you in submitting your application by the deadline of 31 March 2013. However, the onus is on you to ensure that you respond to us promptly and take all reasonable steps to progress your matter swiftly. You must ensure that application forms are accurately and fully completed, with all questions answered, and ALL original and up to date supporting evidence required provided. Failure to do so will result in the Legal Services Commission rejecting your application.

We will also require at least 7 working days to send on your application on to The Legal Services Commission following receipt of your correctly completed and supported application. Therefore, the deadline for sending such applications to us will be 20 March 2013, as the 31 March 2013 is a Sunday and therefore we will need to submit applications by 29 March 2013 at the absolute latest. Ordinarily, we will send such applications via document exchange (DX) and although we will keep a copy on your file, we will not retain any proof of sending. It is not unheard of for things to go astray in the post or for the Legal Services Commission to say that they cannot trace receipt of applications sent to them. If you wish to ensure that proof of sending is obtained, please make specific arrangements with our office, and you will need to be prepared to take your application to the Post Office to send by Royal Mail special / recorded delivery and to meet the cost of this.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE UNAVAILABILITY OF LEGAL AID TO YOU ARISING FROM THE ABOVE CIRCUMSTANCES.

LEGAL AID AFTER 31 MARCH 2013

Legal Aid will generally only REMAIN available for:

• Public family law regarding protection of children (ie care proceedings taken by the Local Authority)
• Private family where there is qualifying evidence of domestic abuse
• Private law children cases where there is qualifying evidence of child abuse
• Child abduction matters
• Representation for child parties in private family cases
• Legal advice in support of mediation
• Domestic abuse injunction cases
• Forced marriage protection order cases

As explained above, traditional legal advice and representation in respect of most divorce proceedings, negotiations relating to children, property and financial matters and court proceedings will no longer be funded by the government, save in exceptional cases. However, the government wishes to promote the resolution of family disputes via mediation.

Mediation involves you and the other party meeting with a trained, impartial mediator (usually separately to begin with) who would assess the suitability of your case for mediation and, if it was agreed that mediation should proceed, would seek to assist the two of you reach a joint agreement without the need for court proceedings. A mediator cannot, however, impose any decisions upon you or advise you.

As a mediator cannot give you legal advice, but it is important that you understand your legal rights and the legal implications of any mediated settlement that you are considering entering into before committing yourself, a limited amount of legal aid will be available under the Legal Help Scheme after 31 March 2013 for those who are financially eligible to obtain legal advice during and at the end of the mediation process. If you were able to reach an agreement through mediation, you would be given an opportunity to seek advice on the terms of the agreement before deciding whether you wanted it embodied into a legally binding format, and legal aid will be available to assist with that.

Family Law Consultancy is seeking to provide mediation services to those eligible for legally aided mediation. If this is granted, then those seeking assistance in respect of their family matter after 31 March 2013 will have a choice of seeking mediation with us, and of obtaining legal advice in support of mediation from another firm of solicitors with a legal aid contract to provide such advice, or of seeking mediation at another mediation service, and of seeking our advice in support of that mediation when the time comes. We cannot, however, provide mediation services to those who instruct us to provide legal representation, or provide legal representation to those who engage our mediation service, due to the potential conflict of interests that could arise.

Legal Aid Update

In July 2012, we told you about the impending demise of legal aid.

Well, we had written to Simon Wright MP in April 2012 about our concerns that the impact that the loss of legal aid would have on constituents. We recently received a reply from him, attaching a letter from Jonathan Djanogly MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the State for Justice. You can read our letter and the reply here. We will let you come to your own conclusions!