Financial worries can often bring domestic issues to a head.

A recent survey carried out by Woolley & Co showed that money was the most significant contributing factor in at least 11 per cent of divorces. But as the credit crunch moves into its second year and with a recession officially on the doorstep, we would expect that figure to rise.

The stress of worrying about how to pay the bills or mortgage can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and lead to many couples seeking a permanent split.

What has been noticeable is that initial enquiries from individuals at the start of the year asking about the divorce process, are now being followed up with firm requests to proceed with a divorce. Someone who may have been in the early stages of a relationship breakdown, trying to understand the process and the costs, now wants a definite resolution. It seems the credit crunch means they can’t carry on living separate lives without sorting out the finances, so there are assets to be split and property to be sold.

There has also been a noticeable rise in the number of individuals asking for variance in their maintenance orders. This could be because a father who has been ordered to pay a set amount can no longer afford it.

This means that family lawyers at Woolley & Co, for instance, have found themselves very busy over the last few months, which may seem surprising in the face of new figures which show divorce rates have dropped for their third year running, falling to their lowest rate for 26 years.

Similarly, a report from property group Savills this month suggested there is a strong correlation between changes in house prices and the number of divorces in England and Wales.

Falling prices makes divorce less affordable, it says. More equity is involved as the average age of splitting couples is getting older.

It appears certain specialists then are bucking the trend. People still need to sell houses during hard economic times, so some estate agents will be busy. Couples will still split, so they will need a solicitor, in the same way they will still need advice on their accounts and what to do with their pensions.

But those employing professional services will be shopping around more for the best deal possible and hunting out true specialists who give value for money.

“In these times, we need to ensure that we are giving the best possible advice to clients, offering a joined up service with other professionals and making the direct service as easily accessible and cost efficient as possible,” said Andrew Woolley, Managing Partner with Woolley & Co.

“That advice should include ensuring a client continues to invest in a good service, rather than simply shopping around for a bargain basement price or cutting out professional advice altogether. To do this would be false economy.

“It is about getting the right professional for the job and giving clear pricing so a client is not caught out by hidden costs.”

In this climate we think professionals should be:

• Working with fellow professionals to signpost quality services
• Cultivating new partnership with like-minded firms
• Offering fix-fee pricing on selected packages of work
• Looking at value added services for clients.

“By advising clients needing associated services to go with a specialist service provider with whom we have worked before, we can minimise the impact of the credit crunch on our respective businesses,” added Andrew.

For more information, visit www.family-lawfirm.co.uk, or call 0800 321 3832.

Getting pension sharing right

When a couple goes through a divorce, both parties often need to look again at their pensions.

For one it may be that they have an amount for the first time that they need to invest in a scheme that provides for them in later life. For the other, it could be that they have had to rationalise their existing fund to make provision for their ex-spouse and need to look again at what to do with their available fund.

This is when pensions consultants like Michael Wright come in.

Michael works with Leicester-based experts Mattioli Woods. They can help a client secure their returns, assessing the suitability of their current arrangements and, where appropriate, consolidating a number of separate plans into one with a view to creating income streams to support them later in life.

“I was always interested in finance and came across pensions consultancy Mattioli Woods after university and liked the company ethos. Our approach is to offer clients a holistic service, managing their pensions in conjunction with all aspects of their wealth and assisting them in achieving long term security. We seek to create strong client relationships and our retention rate is around 97 per cent.

“We are now even dealing with some second generation clients.

“In a nutshell, what we do is retirement planning. It is making sure the structure and investment strategy are well balanced and suited to provide for the pension holder and their family in later life.

“One of the main services we provide is consolidation. Some people have lots of smaller pension schemes they have accrued over their working life. Modern pension thinking is that by housing these benefits in a single arrangement, a client’s needs can potentially be better served.

“Our other core service is assisting those who need more specialist pension consultancy. This might be people who own a business. We help them understand their options and often how they can place certain assets, like a business property, into a specialist pension, building an income stream for the future.

“We do get a lot of people coming to us after a divorce, needing advice on how to position their pension settlement. Alternatively they might have had to give up some of their pension fund and now need to look again at what is best to maximise their future income with new arrangements.

“By speaking to an experienced pensions consultant, they can ensure their income from a pension fund is maximised.”

To find out more about Mattioli Woods, visit www.mattioli-woods.com

Divorce rate falls again

The divorce rate for England and Wales has fallen for the third year running, reaching it lowest level for 26 years.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show the divorce rate dropped to 11.9 divorces for every 1,000 married couples in 2007, down from 12.2 divorces in 2006.

The highest rate of divorce was among couples in their late 20s and just over half involved couples with a child.

However, some people believe the figures no longer give a clear picture of the state of British relationships as fewer people are choosing to get married.

The report also noted that 42 civil partnerships in England and Wales were dissolved in 2007 - 28 of them female couples and 14 male couples.

'Divorce gene' linked to relationship troubles

A "divorce gene" linked to an increased risk of relationship breakdown has been discovered by scientists.

Researchers say it plays a role in determining how the brain responds to a chemical that is central to the bonding process between a man and a woman.

Men with a variant of the gene tended to score badly on a questionnaire designed to assess how well they bond with their partner and were more likely to report having suffered marital difficulties.

The discovery raises the possibility that scientists could one day develop drugs to target the gene in an attempt to prevent marriages from falling apart

Hasse Walum and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, used Sweden's Twin and Offspring Study, which includes data on more than 550 twins and their partners or spouses.

They looked at a protein in the body which responds to a chemical called vasopressin, which is central to human bonding.

The researchers then compared the genes in that area to men's scores on the Partner Bonding Scale, which is designed to estimate the strength of a person's attachment to his or her spouse or partner. They found that men with one version of the gene - called the "334" version, or allele - had low scores and were less likely to be married.

Read the full story on the Daily Telegraph site.

People who lose their jobs more likely to divorce

A recent study has found that married couples who lose their jobs are more likely to see their relationship end in divorce.

The report found that being unemployed increased the risk of couples splitting up in the following year by 33 per cent when the man loses his job, and by 83 per cent when the woman does.

It concludes that women worry about the state of the family's finances and so relationships will suffer when one of them becomes unemployed.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, which published the study, said: "The results suggest that the costs of becoming unemployed are not simply financial. They can also be emotional, as marriages break down and couples split up."

Full details on the study were reported in this Daily Telegraph piece.

Four new lawyers to join Woolley & Co

Woolley & Co is continuing to expand, with no fewer than three new lawyers joining between now and November.

This will bring our team of family lawyers up to 14.

The new additions mean we will have family law experts in even more parts of the country and greater capacity to help clients looking for legal advice on everything from setting up home with partner, to dividing their assets on divorce.

Sue Harwood joins Woolley & Co on 22 September. Based in Helston, in West Cornwall Sue is a trained collaborative lawyer. This is a rapidly-growing discipline in which divorcing or separating couples can work together as a team with their respective lawyers through four-way meetings, without needing to go to court. When not helping clients Sue spends her time playing water polo or competing in triathalons.

Sue Harwood

We will keep you updated on our other new additions in forthcoming editions of the ezine but you can also keep an eye on developments at the firm via our website www.family-lawfirm.co.uk