Who keeps the flat? In Southwark that question is harder than it sounds, because so many of the borough's homes are leasehold or shared ownership. A couple who bought a two-bedroom flat at Elephant Park or Canada Water with a 25 per cent share and a housing association landlord cannot simply sell up and split the proceeds: the association's rules, the mortgage lender and the staircasing position all have a say, and the spouse who stays may not be able to afford the rent on the unowned share. Divorce solicitors in Southwark deal with this far more often than their colleagues in the suburbs.
Since April 2022 the divorce itself has been no-fault: one or both spouses apply online, a conditional order follows after at least twenty weeks and the final order six weeks later. The legal effort goes into money and children. Southwark's divorcing couples range from Dulwich households dividing a Victorian house, school fees and a partner's share in a City firm to Peckham and Walworth families whose main assets are a council tenancy, which can be transferred by court order, and a pension, often worth more than expected after a career at Guy's or King's. A pension sharing order needs a proper valuation before anything is agreed.
Agreed terms are written into a consent order and approved by a judge without a hearing; cases that cannot be agreed go to the Central Family Court in Holborn, after a mediation information and assessment meeting for most applications. Legal aid for divorce is confined to cases with evidence of domestic abuse.
Most Southwark firms charge a fixed fee for an uncontested divorce and hourly or staged fees for a financial dispute, and often a free first meeting.
The divorce firms serving Southwark are listed below, verified ones first. Read about the divorce process and what a divorce costs, see the general divorce solicitors guide, and for children and cohabitation go to family law solicitors in Southwark.
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