Divorce after thirty years of marriage used to be rare. It is not any more, and Havering, with the oldest population in London, sees more of it than most boroughs: couples in Upminster or Hornchurch whose children have left, whose mortgage is paid off, and whose main assets are a house, two pensions and the savings meant for retirement. A divorce solicitor in Romford handling a case like that spends little time on the divorce itself and most of it on pensions, because a final-salary pension built up over a career at Ford, the NHS or the council may be worth more than the house, and a pension sharing order is the only way to divide it fairly.
The procedure is the same at any age. Since April 2022 there has been no need to allege adultery or behaviour; the application goes in online, jointly or alone, the conditional order follows after at least twenty weeks and the final order six weeks later. Younger couples in Harold Hill and Rainham bring the familiar questions of a mortgaged home that neither can afford alone, child maintenance and who keeps the car, and increasingly the complication of parents who lent the deposit. Whatever the age, the financial agreement should be made into a consent order, which the family court in Romford approves without a hearing; without one, claims stay open for years. Where there is no agreement, the court decides after mediation has been attempted.
Fixed fees for the divorce application are standard in Havering; the finances are charged hourly with an estimate. Legal aid is available only with evidence of domestic abuse.
Divorce solicitors covering Havering are listed below, verified firms first. The guides to the divorce process and how much a divorce costs are worth reading first; the general divorce solicitors page explains the service, and family law solicitors in Havering covers children and injunctions.
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