Inevitably there will be lots of families dealing with all the issues surrounding divorce as we enter the second month of the year. January is peak season for divorce in the UK when couples have decided enough is enough following the uneasy truce that Christmas often brings.
Divorce doesn’t just involve the couple themselves, however, there is also the potentially large impact it will have on other family members and children in particular. This is why it is vital that agreements are made on what happens after divorce.
As we all hear about daily with the UK’s ‘divorce’ from the EU uncoupling and untangling years of cooperation and shared assets involves a lot of compromise and negotiations. For families, maintenance and support are often the first things that spring to mind, but there are also the smaller issues that can be no less important. Who gets the pets for example or where will children go to school?
All of this of course can often be sorted out with some negotiation which is covered under the umbrella term of mediation. Mediation is not there to judge or be judgemental, it simply provides an opportunity for all concerned to maintain some control over what will happen. Once a case gets to court it will be down to the judge to decide and this can sometimes lead to a lot of unsatisfactory outcomes and an expensive legal bill at the end of it all.