This guide cannot assess your circumstances or tell you what to do. Sources checked 15 September 2026. Professional editorial review is still required before promotion.
Begin with what needs attention
It can help to separate immediate questions from decisions that may take longer. Note any known hearing, deadline or safety concern at the beginning of a conversation with a professional.
Separate the legal threads
Ending a marriage or civil partnership, making arrangements for children and resolving money or property are connected but separate legal issues. List them under different headings so the adviser can identify what needs action and what can wait.
Prepare the key information
For children, note current routines and the arrangements being discussed. For finances, prepare a broad list of property, savings, debts, income and pensions. Add any existing agreement, court order or correspondence, but share it only through a secure route confirmed by the professional.
Questions worth asking
- What information would help you understand the situation?
- What options can you explain at this stage?
- Could mediation or another route be relevant?
- What are the likely next steps?
- How will scope, fees and updates be handled?
Ask about ways to reach agreement
Depending on the issue and whether it is safe, options may include direct discussion, solicitor negotiation, mediation or a court application. Before many family-court applications, a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting is normally required unless an exemption applies.
Understand what becomes binding
An informal or mediated agreement may need a further legal step if you want it to be enforceable. Ask whether a consent order, child-arrangements order or another form of record is appropriate for the issue.
If there is a safety concern
Say so at the start of the conversation. Mediation may not be suitable, and urgent protective steps or legal aid may need to be considered. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. Use the official domestic-abuse guidance when it is safe to do so.
Official guidance
This guide focuses on England and Wales. GOV.UK explains divorce, child arrangements and financial arrangements separately and links to the different processes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.