1. Definitions

“Divorce Right” refers to the trading name Divorce Right and SMS Law Limited and the employees thereof. 

“Client” refers to an individual in a marriage or civil partnership that sign up for Divorce Right services. 

“Services” refers to the Services supplied by Divorce Right to its Clients

“Service Programme” refers to a service package offered by Divorce Right

2. Intellectual Property of Divorce Right

All Divorce Right logos, products and service names, are trademarks of SMS Law Limited.  Except as otherwise permitted by law, you agree not to display or use in any manner the Divorce Right trademarks without the prior written consent of Divorce Right. 

Service

3. Support & Guidance

Divorce Right can only provide Clients with guidance and support and at no time do we provide financial or legal recommendations or advice.  If you are welcome to seek assistance from an appropriate financial or legal professional alongside the service that we provide should you require this. 

4. Independent Third Parties

Divorce Right is not liable for advice and support obtained from any independent third party even if Divorce Right has signposted or referred you to that organisation.

5. Online Portal

If you have purchased one of our Service Programmes, you will be given access to our online portal.  Your access is valid until the purchased programme is completed or there has been no action on the programme for a period of 9 months.   Thereafter access will be denied. 

6. Family Court Proceedings

Divorce Right will not be involved in any family court proceedings that may be instituted by either Client to finalise matters related to divorce, financial settlement or arrangements for children.  All information provided to Divorce Right is confidential and cannot be shared during family court proceedings. 

Payment for Services

 7. Fixed Fees

All our Service Packages are priced at a fixed fee.  This fixed fee is payable in advance of any work being undertaken.  The total fee is payable as one instalment.

 8. Payment Plan

Divorce Right exercise its discretion to provide a payment plan for its Service Packages on application.  This consists of 3 equal instalments payable over 3 calendar months. 

• If you have elected to pay fees over the period of 3 calendar months, we will obtain your credit card information and charge authorisation and will bill your credit card on the respective date.
• If we are unable to process your payment on the due date, we will make 2 additional attempts within 7 days. If your payment is not processed on the third attempt, a processing fee of £35 will be added to your outstanding payment. 
• If full payment remains unpaid for more than 14 days, your right to attend and participate in the chosen service will be suspended until your account is brought up to date.
• If payment remains unpaid for more than 30 days, you will be charged a late payment fee of 10% of the outstanding balance and you will begin to incur interest on the unpaid balance in the amount of 1.5% per month, or the maximum allowed by law if lower than 1.5% per month, or the maximum allowed by law if lower than 1.5% per month.  Because our billing system is automated, requests to make changes to your payment plan will incur a £35 administrative fee to your next payment.

 9. Collections

If Divorce Right has to send your account to collections or to pursue legal action for non-payment of fees, then Divorce Right shall be entitled to recover its associated legal fees and costs. 

10. Other Fees

There may be additional costs and fees above the fixed fee quoted.  These may include the following:

• Court fees – There is a court fee of £550 to lodge a divorce petition and £50 to lodge a consent order with the court. Where applicable, these fees are payable directly to the court and, at no time, directly to Divorce Right. 
• Fees for Third Parties – in certain circumstances, it may be necessary for you to instruct independent third parties to provide a report or advice. Whilst this list is not exhaustive, such third parties may include surveyors, accountants, pensions advisors, financial advisors and mortgage brokers.  All fees would need to be agreed between you and the third party and payment made directly to the third party.
• Any extra time required for meetings or telephone calls in addition to the provision in the in the Service Programme outlined in paragraph 1 (c) below will be charged at £200 per hour. Clients will be informed in advance of any such charges and your express agreement in writing will be requested prior to any such extra charges. 

11. Client Identity Checks/Money Laundering Regulations

• In common with most professional advisers we conduct identification checks on clients even where they are known personally to us or have had dealings with us in the past.
• For the purposes of Money Laundering Regulations, we are unable to accept payments of cash from you in excess of the sum of £250. Also, we are unable to make any payments of cash to you; even on your specific request.  We are also unable to make payments for you that are due to a third party. 

Cancellation

12. Cancellation Policy

We have a strict cancellation policy.  A full refund will only be given if cancellation notice is received in writing within 14 days of you signing up to the Service. 

13. Breach of Terms and Conditions

Material breach of these terms and conditions may, at the sole discretion of Divorce Right, result in termination of your rights as a Clients.  No refund will be provided to Clients terminated for cause and Service fees not yet paid remain due and payable in accordance with the payment plan schedule. 

14. Termination of Services

Despite the support and guidance from Divorce Right, if it becomes apparent, that it that agreement between the Clients is not possible either in respect of the divorce, financial settlement or arrangements for children then the Service will effectively be terminated.  In such an event, no refund will be provided to Clients and Service fees not yet paid remain due and payable in accordance with the payment plan schedule. 

15. Divorce Right Commitment

• We are committed to supporting and guiding our Clients as much as possible.
• We take Client Confidentiality very seriously and confirm that all discussions and information passed to Divorce Right will be treated in the strictest of confidence. However, in certain situations we would need to consider whether it would be appropriate to breach this confidentiality. If appropriate, we will try to obtain your consent to disclosure however, in serious cases this may not be possible. These situations are as follows:
• Where a client has indicated their intention to commit suicide or serious self-harm;
• Preventing harm to children or vulnerable adults;
• Preventing the commission of a criminal offence.

16. Client Commitment

It is important that Clients are committed to the process in order to ensure that they achieve their objectives through the programme.  We require openness, transparency and engagement from Clients for the process to work effectively.

Clients agree to:

1. Provide full disclosure of all assets and liabilities
2. Be committed to working together to resolve all matters relating to their divorce and separation
3. Be courteous, respectful and behave in a non-aggressive manner to their ex-partner and to all Divorce Right staff. Any threatening or aggressive behaviour will lead to a termination of the Service

17. Complaints Policy

Divorce Right takes all complaints seriously and will take all reasonable steps to rectify an issue once they have been informed of the same.  Client complaints are to be emailed to [email protected].  Once we have received the complaint email, clients should allow 48 working hours for a confirmation email to be received.  Divorce Right will always aim to fully resolve any issues within 14 working days of first email being received.  Neither party will go online or escalate into legal processes without first allowing the 14 working days for investigation and resolution.  Neither party will publicly complain on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. without first attempting to resolve the issue mutually within the 14 working day period.

18. GDPR

In line with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into effect on 25^th May 2018, we have updated our policies to show how we use your data.  Policies can be provided upon request. 

Get Divorced Service Programme

1. Divorce Fixed Fee Package includes:

1. 30 minute communication by email, phone or text
2. Information on Divorce Process
3. Drafting & filing of the Divorce Documents*:

•  Petition
• Acknowledgement of service (for the Respondent)
• Decree nisi application
• Statement in Support
• Decree absolute application

2. The Fixed Fee Divorce Package does not include the following: 

• Court fees or any other expenses
• Arranging personal or substituted service
• Court application for deemed or substituted service
• Preparing any amendments to the divorce documents* (unless they arise from our drafting of the divorce documents)
• Dealing with any queries raised by the court (unless they arise from our drafting of the divorce documents)
• Correspondence with any 3^rdparties other than the petitioner and respondent
• Any additional communication – any communication beyond the included minutes as specified above, is charged at our standard hourly rates. We will use our best endeavours to advise you of this before this applies.
• Discussions or work in relation to a financial settlement and/or arrangement for children.