Divorce solicitor Judith Buckland explains why it might be better to divorce in England rather than elsewhere in the world.
It is worth bearing in mind that there are quite a lot of differences in the way that different jurisdictions approach issues surrounding divorce. Mainly these are to do with the financial issues and there are very great discrepancies between various countries. It is difficult to generalise but one of the main things that I would pick up is that England will always look at the whole situation. They will also look at assets that have been brought into the marriage, they may even look at assets that have been acquired post separation. Before deciding on a settlement or division of assets under English law lawyers looks at the circumstances, earnings and earning potential of each party. “Need” is the watch word in English Law and that is not necessarily the case in other countries.
Another difference that there is between the jurisdictions of England and other jurisdictions is that very frequently parties will enter into pre-nuptial agreements i.e. agreements that have been made before marriage, or indeed even post-nuptial agreements which have been made after parties have been married and many jurisdictions will uphold those agreements. England can, if they think it is fair, but they are not going to be bound by them and that can be a very good reason for starting proceedings in this country if that could lead to a very different outcome than it would in your own jurisdiction.
The issue of conduct is another good reason for keeping divorce proceedings in England because it is not something that the courts in England will take into consideration and very much leave that out of the equation when considering what is fair. In other jurisdictions that is not the case and conduct can be taken into consideration and you can be penalised for ways in which you have acted for example, having affairs or relationships or any other type of conduct.
The English courts have a fairly robust approach to making sure that all the financial information is in front of the court before they make their decision and in fact I would say they are probably the best jurisdiction in the world for that. Other countries are not quite so robust and you may find decisions being made without all of the information being in front of them.
Some other jurisdictions have quite slow and technically quite cumbersome procedures for divorce whereas England is fairly user friendly, straight forward and relatively quick. For specific advice on your situation contact Woolley & Co today.
