Financial Settlement Specialists

The subject of financial security following separation, divorce or the ending of a civil partnership often causes the highest amount of stress to couples.

When a marriage or civil partnership breaks down, you are likely to require advice on financial matters as it will have a profound impact on the finances relating to the spouses as well as the children of the family.

Common issues that couples face are - where each party and the children will live, how they will manage day to day living expenses, who should provide funding for future education of the children and in what proportion.

In these circumstances, your rights and claims usually lie in property, pensions, capital and maintenance from income.

You may be fortunate enough to have been able to agree these together with each other without intervention from anyone else and only require our services to help you formalise an agreed settlement through a consent order approved by the court. It may be that you were very close to an agreement, but have reached a stalemate and are in need of some advice on this subject. It may even be that you are not able to communicate directly with each other at present.

Dawoods is particularly strong in the area of resolving disputes over family finances. Kumari Dawood has extensive experience in dealing with all types of financial settlements – from relatively straightforward cases to the more complex situations involving hidden assets and non-disclosure, business assets, pensions of high value, assets outside the United Kingdom, multiple properties and complex remuneration packages of city executives and other professionals.

When dealing with complex finances which require more rigorous enquiry, our expertise will be teamed with opinions from specialist barristers, forensic accountants, pension valuation experts, business valuation experts, etc to negotiate a settlement or present your case to the court.

A couple’s housing and other reasonable needs must be met with appropriate allocation for minor children of the family in the first instance. Each case must be looked at individually as there is no set formula that fits all.

Dawoods is here to advise you on the level of your likely entitlement and whether your expectations are realistic.

Depending on your preference, settlements can be agreed through traditional negotiations or through the use of alternative dispute resolution such as referral to mediation. However, if these softer tools appear to be unsuitable to protect your rights and obtain a timely and favourable outcome for you, more formal steps can be taken through the court process to secure a suitable and fair outcome.