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Family Law Information Project |
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| The Legal System | |
| Conclusion |
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| Personalities, Structure and the Legal System |
| There is a 'structure' to the legal system and it is important that you know where you stand within it. There are professional people that you will meet and you need to know who they are and their role within the process and the Court system. You and your spouse or civil partner face two problems. You have a disagreement over the 'issues' and you have a communication gap, which needs to be bridged if there is going to be any kind of resolution between you. You and your spouse will have to take a number of important decisions. These may involve arrangements for your children and financial matters, as well as your separation. You and your spouse may agree about these things, in which case the solicitor who represents your spouse and I can help you sort things out relatively easily. But you and your spouse may disagree about the 'issues' and you may find it difficult to communicate about them. To help you resolve the differences between you, your spouse's solicitor and I are a means of communication for the two of you where there is none between you. I will give you clear objective advice and on your behalf, open up a dialogue with your spouses' solicitor. I accept that the means of communication is somewhat laboured because it is by letter, fax and e-mail but it does have the advantage that everything done in you name is recorded and the ideas are expressed in logical and objective terms. An alternative way to start a dialogue is to seek the assistance of a mediator. A mediator is not a judge, an arbitrator, an advocate or an advisor. A mediator facilitates a voluntary dialogue between the two of you so that together you can resolve your differences and find a solution that allows you to separate by agreement. If dialogue, mediation and negotiation don't work then you will have to resort to litigation. There is, sitting in a County Court somewhere near you a District Judge who will look at the circumstances of both of you and your children and impose upon you his (or her) decision about a fair distribution of the family assets. If you get that far then you will be represented by a barrister (counsel) who specializes in the presentation of cases of this nature before a Court. A Judge in a Court is authorised by Parliament to make a Court Order. Try not to think of it as a command but instead the means by which order can be brought into your lives instead of chaos. If there is a dispute between you about issues concerning your children then an organization called 'CAFCASS' (the Children And Family Court Advisory and Support Service) may be asked to carry out a review of the issues that affect your children and advise the Court independently of you, the parents, of the issues and possible resolutions of them. Finally, underneath it all there is the law passed by Parliament. The criteria by which a Judge makes decisions for both of you is set out in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, S1 and S25 and the Children Act 1989, S1, and you should read those pieces of legislation. There is nothing complicated about them. If you seek public funding then you will have to deal with the Legal Services Commission. The Commission is aware of the principle that the more you agree then the less you pay the lawyers. For that reason the Commission is likely to require you to undertake an intake mediation appointment before you may apply for a certificate of public funding. Any public funding made available to you or your spouse is likely to be a loan, rather than a grant, which will have to be repaid unless you are involved in publicly funded mediation. All the people you meet should adopt the professional ethic that the more you agree then the less you pay. |
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