{"id":30,"date":"2026-09-08T11:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/2026\/09\/08\/five-things-to-settle-before-filing-for-divorce\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:36:32","slug":"five-things-to-settle-before-filing-for-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/2026\/09\/08\/five-things-to-settle-before-filing-for-divorce\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things to settle before filing for divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filing for divorce starts a legal process with deadlines, disclosure and, often, hearings. A little preparation before you file can save months of stress and a great deal of cost.<\/p>\n

1. Gather your financial documents<\/h2>\n

Collect bank statements, pay slips, tax returns, pension statements and mortgage papers. Full and early disclosure is required, and it strengthens your position.<\/p>\n

2. Think about the children first<\/h2>\n

Write down the current routine and what you believe is best for your children. Courts focus on stability and on the children’s welfare, not on who is to blame.<\/p>\n

3. Protect your credit and joint accounts<\/h2>\n

Keep a record of joint debts and consider whether joint accounts need to be frozen or separated.<\/p>\n

4. Consider mediation<\/h2>\n

Mediation is usually faster, cheaper and less stressful than a contested hearing, and agreements reached this way tend to last.<\/p>\n

5. Take advice early<\/h2>\n

A short consultation before you file will show you your options and the likely outcomes, so that every decision you make is an informed one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Practical steps that protect your finances and your children from day one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scintillawpthemes.com\/demo\/swp-barrister-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}