Solicitors

Unlike mediators, solicitors are not neutral. Your solicitor will take your side, so you and your partner will need to find separate solicitors.

A solicitor can help you in a number of different ways:

• You can get advice from a solicitor on what rights the law gives you and your partner on separation and what options you have for enforcing those rights. If you have been to mediation, you should see a solicitor for some legal advice before getting your mediator to put your final agreement in writing.

• If you want to make sure that your partner will be required by law to stick to the terms of your written agreement, you can get your solicitor to turn it into an order and ask the court to approve it. You will both have to agree to this.

• If you don't think you and your partner can agree on arrangements through mediation, your solicitor can negotiate with your partner's solicitor to reach an agreement for you.

• If this doesn't work, your solicitor can ask a judge to make the decisions by making an 'application to court'. If you are divorcing/dissolving a civil partnership, you'll have to make an application to court for the divorce/dissolution whether or not you can agree on the practical arrangements.

• You can still reach your own agreement after you have made an application to court. In fact, the court will encourage you to keep trying. But if your case does end up in court, your solicitor will be able to explain your circumstances to the judge and argue for what you want. Or they might arrange for a barrister to do this for you. A barrister is simply a lawyer that specialises in presenting cases to a judge. This is usually called 'legal representation'.
  
  

Many solicitors will offer you an initial half-hour meeting either for free, or at a reduced rate (click on the following link for tips on how to prepare for this meeting: Checklist (seeing a solicitor)). At the meeting, they will ask for details about your situation and follow it up by sending you a letter, called an 'engagement letter', confirming: what work they'll need to do, how long it is likely to take, an estimate of how much it will cost and an explanation of their complaints procedure. Don't be embarrassed to ask about anything in it that you don't understand or don't agree with before signing. Your solicitor should contact you regularly to ask you for instructions whenever decisions need to be made and keep you up-to-date with progress on your case.

Solicitors charge by the hour for all the time they spend on your case, including talking things through with you on the phone, so bear this in mind if there is a lot you want to discuss. If you are not on legal aid, they should send you regular bills for their work and you will probably have to pay a large sum of money at the start to cover a proportion of these costs. This is called 'money on account of costs'.

You may be able to get legal aid to cover your solicitor's costs if you are on a low income and only have limited savings. But be aware that this will need to be paid back if you end up with money or a house as a result of the separation. Speak to your solicitor about it.

Collaborative law

Collaborative law is a bit like a mix of legal advice and mediation. You and your partner will have a series of face-to-face meetings to try and sort everything out but, instead of a neutral mediator, you will each be helped at the meetings by your own legal advisers. You can't get legal aid to pay for collaborative law.
Collaborative law is fairly new to this country and at the moment there are not many lawyers qualified to practise it. They are mostly based in the south of England. You can find a collaborative lawyer in your area by looking at the 'Directory of members' on the Collaborative Family Law Group website (see the link at the bottom of this page under the heading 'Links to further information').