When you’re starting down the path of separation, the thought of working with a divorce lawyer can be daunting. Throw the idea of talking about ‘divorce strategies’ into the mix, and it can start to feel more than a little overwhelming.
But fear not, working with a divorce lawyer from Bespoke Family Lawyers is more than just a legal conversation, it’s a conversation about you and how you want to move forward through our divorce strategy session.
After your initial clarity call with us, you might have decided it’s time to take the next step and move ahead with your separation.
And that next step? Is a strategy session with Amy, our accredited family law specialist and one of our family lawyers. We will listen to your story, what you want to achieve, work out your entitlements and decide on the best strategy and course of action you should take based on how you want to move forward.
Let’s go through what’s involved during a strategy session.
Understanding the history of your relationship is a crucial component in any strategy session. This will cover information such as when a property was purchased, the birth dates of your child/ren, when you separated etc.
We know going back over your relationship timeline may be difficult for you – potentially bringing up unpleasant memories or complex emotions.
However, by having a holistic view of past events and your story, we can better understand the relationship dynamic, get clearer on both you and your ex’s positions, understand what’s important to you and why and determine where you’d like to go next.
This is where we work out the size of the pie available for division between you and your Ex. We will put together a list of assets, liabilities and financial resources held by you and your Ex. We call this the ‘property pool’.
Both you and your Ex will need to provide all of your financial information and documents to each other as you progress forwards with identifying the property pool. You can download our Financial Documents Checklist to get clear on the financial information you and your Ex will need to exchange.
This makes sure everyone is on the same page about the size of the property pool that we’re talking about dividing.
Contributions refers to what each party ‘brought’ or ‘added’ to the relationship. This can be financially, non-financially or through care contributions.
For instance, if one party was the ‘breadwinner’ of the family, this would be a financial contribution. If the other party was the homemaker, this would be a care contribution, while it may not have a dollar figure attached to it, it’s still a valuable contribution to the wellbeing of the family.
Despite traditional views, financial contributions aren’t viewed as more important than a family contribution such as caring for children. Thankfully, the Court has progressed forwards with society and the reality of how families work.
Each person’s contribution during the length of the relationship, and after the relationship, will be considered when developing your strategy and settlement options.
Next, we’ll discuss what yours and your Ex’s future needs, both during your separation and after. This conversation will be quite broad and cover a range of topics.
For instance, we’ll discuss:
We can also use this time to discuss if you require spousal maintenance in the short, medium or long term.
Once we’ve brought all the pieces together, we can let you know what we believe you’re entitled to from your combined property and asset pool.
Usually, we’ll provide you with a range of possible outcomes as this is not an exact science and there is no single answer.
We work on the basis of helping you to understand what it is that you may actually end up in your hands to rebuild your life because who the heck wants to think of their relationship or worth in percentages!
You can learn more about divorce entitlements in our blog “Divorce Settlements: What am I entitled to?”
This is where the divorce strategy session comes into play.
Using our expertise, we’ll explain the various paths you can take to get a resolution. We’ll help you to uncover your goals and what life you want to live and we’ll use this to develop a divorce strategy focused on helping you to financially rebuild. You can learn more about how to plan for your financial future in one of our favourite blogs.
This helps us to explore settlement options that help you to live your best life going forward. After all, our biggest goal, is to give you a sense of clarity, confidence and direction so you can plan how you move forward.
You can book in a FREE 30 minute Clarity Call to discuss your situation and get answers to the issues causing you the most stress right now.
You can download our How to Survive the First 90 Days After Separation Guide which is jam-packed with easy, actionable steps you can take in the early days of your separation as you start to uncover and plan how you want to move forward.
You can connect with us on Instagram and Facebook where we share heaps of tips, tools and strategies to support you on your separation journey.
***Disclaimer***
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or any other professional advice.
We are here to guide you out of the uncertainty of separation to financial certainty and freedom, to clear arrangements for your children and to the power and confidence you need to rebuild your life.
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