Divorce after a marriage of thirty years raises questions that a divorce after five does not, and in Bexley the long marriage is the typical one. The house in Welling or Barnehurst is paid off and worth far more than it cost; the pensions, often final-salary schemes from the council, the NHS, the police or a City employer, may be worth more than the house; the children are adults, so the court's usual focus on their housing falls away; and one spouse may have given up a career decades ago. Divorce solicitors in Bexley spend much of their time on pension sharing orders, on whether one person can afford to keep the house, and on making a single household's wealth stretch to two retirements.
The process has been no-fault since April 2022: an online application, by one spouse or jointly, a twenty-week wait, a conditional order and a final order six weeks later. Nobody is blamed, which suits couples who have simply drifted apart, but financial claims do not end with the final order unless a court approves a consent order, and skipping that step is the costliest mistake a divorcing couple can make. Younger couples in Thamesmead, Erith and the new flats near Abbey Wood bring the more familiar problems of a mortgage one income cannot support and arrangements for school-age children.
Agreed settlements are approved on paper; contested ones follow a mediation information and assessment meeting and the family court's timetable, with hearings at the courts serving the area. Legal aid is confined to cases involving domestic abuse.
Bexley firms typically charge a fixed fee for the divorce itself and hourly or staged fees for financial work, with a free or low-cost first meeting.
Divorce firms serving Bexley are listed below, verified first. Read the divorce process, how much a divorce costs and pension law, see the general divorce solicitors guide, and for children or cohabitation go to family law solicitors in Bexley.
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