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Resolution Together is a way of working that allows qualified lawyers to provide joint, impartial legal advice to separating or divorcing clients.
This ‘one couple, one lawyer’ approach comes after the implementation of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act, which allows couples, for the first time, to make joint applications to end a marriage together.
Resolution Together is a comprehensive client service provided to a separating couple by our Resolution Together specialist, Lisa Cogger ideal for those who want to manage their separation or divorce together. This method can be effective for couples who are separating amicably.
This process differs from the traditional way of dealing with a divorce, where each party has their own lawyer. With this approach, both clients can receive legal advice from Lisa on an equally beneficial basis.
The Eric Whitehead Partnership is currently the only firm in Staffordshire Moorlands and the immediate surrounding area that offers the Resolution Together service.
Lisa trained in the Resolution Together service amid increased demand from separating couples keen to resolve matters together in a cooperative, cost-effective way, and it sits alongside the wide range of other services the firm offers, including collaborative law and traditional representation.
Resolution has worked with the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) to ensure that Resolution Together operates within current regulations and provides as much support and reassurance for members as possible.
If you are considering a single-solicitor divorce, the first step is to contact Lisa Cogger, our Resolution Together specialist.
Lisa will discuss your situation and confirm whether the Resolution Together service is right for you. If it isn’t, we offer a range of alternative divorce and separation options, such as collaborative law. Everyone is different, and not every situation is suited, but you will be advised on the next steps, the information you need to consider, and any other options available to you.
Lisa will need to check that both you and your ex-partner are committed to a conflict-free process and that neither of you is being pressured by the other. Divorce cases involving domestic abuse or power imbalance are not suitable for Resolution Together.
Lisa will at the first meeting hold individual discussions with you both as detailed below. If, following those meetings, you are both still keen to work together and Lisa is satisfied that the process is suitable for you, she will walk you through the divorce process, if appropriate, from start to finish, agreeing on a timeline that works for you both.
Lisa will also outline the procedure for collating required financial information/disclosure and agree on the next steps with you.
You may come to your first meeting alone, expressing your intention that you can work jointly with your ex-partner to resolve matters. However, it will be important to understand why you have come on your own and whether that provides any indication in the first place that your former partner may be reluctant to work jointly and/or any indication that it might be inappropriate (or unsafe) for either of you to do so.
During the first joint meeting, Lisa will have individual meetings with each of you. In the individual meeting, it will be important to take the time to explore fully with you both:
This individual meeting for single solicitor divorces is critical to decision-making about the appropriateness of agreeing to work jointly and will be carefully and sensitively managed. It will include a thorough assessment of aspects of safety, (including any safeguarding risk/s) and any pressures on or duress of that individual to work with your former partner, whether there are or have been any risks or concerns about mental or emotional health or any other marker that would indicate that working jointly might be inappropriate.
Prior to the second joint meeting, you will have both let Lisa have your financial documentation, which she will have considered in detail. She will produce a schedule of assets and a bundle of supporting documents to ensure that you have both received all relevant information and documentation to enable you to negotiate a settlement.
At the meeting Lisa will also ask you both to sign a formal agreement committing you to the Resolution Together process. Lisa will also sign the agreement. She will then work with you both to ensure that you both understand the financial information that has been provided.
She will provide you both with advice as to the range of settlement outcomes that would be suitable in your particular circumstances. She will ensure that you both have a chance to express your views and concerns, ask any questions and have them answered. You will both have an opportunity to be heard.
It may be possible to reach an overall agreement at this meeting, but in some cases subsequent meetings are necessary, particularly if expert evidence and input is required, for example, from property valuers, pension on divorce experts, independent financial advisors, etc.
If expert input is required, Lisa will work with you both to identify the appropriate expert and to instruct them on a joint impartial basis. In some instances, it often helps to have the experts attend a meeting with you.
Once an agreement has been reached in principle, a draft standard order may be drawn that reflects your agreement together. Any decisions and agreements reached should have been worked through and tested by you and facilitated by us. We have the same responsibilities to point out any aspect that might fall outside what a court would order prior to any final agreement being reached.
Lisa will advise you on how to apply to the court for the draft order and will ensure that:
