Separating...together

Heather Mills was awarded £24m when her marriage ended while insurer John Charman was ordered to pay his wife £48m, but ordinary couples do not rate financial factors as important.

A mere three per cent cited being financially better off than their partner as the most important consideration should they divorce, in a Resolution survey of more than 2,000 people.

Four out of five said the interests of any children would be their most or second most important consideration, and more than half would prioritise making the divorce as conflict-free as possible.

However, nearly half of respondents who are divorcees said they believe divorce can never be without conflict, and 81 per cent of respondents believe children end up being the main casualties of divorce.

Some 45 per cent thought most divorces involve a visit to court – despite the fact non-court alternatives such as mediation are widely available and have been promoted by the government.

The survey of British attitudes to divorce was launched to mark the start Family Dispute Resolution Week, which aims to raise awareness of non-confrontational methods of resolving family breakdown, such as mediation, collaborative law and arbitration.

Resolution also published an advice guide for separating couples on the various non-court based methods, Separating Together: Your options for separation and divorce. Geraldine Morris, head of LexisPSL Family, said: “The new Resolution guide will be a useful new resource for separating and divorcing couples – the need for a greater awareness of options for resolving disputes is brought into sharp focus by the extensive cuts to legal aid and the overloaded court system.

“Mediation will not be suitable for all cases however and it would be hoped that the reforms to the family justice system proposed by Mr Justice Ryder will be properly resourced and implemented by the government so that those cases that are dealt with by the courts will be subject to less delay than at present.”