010 AFFORDABLE DIVORCE WHICH EXPERTS TO USE TO SPEND YOUR MONEY WISELY

Solicitors, divorce coaches, divorce consultants, financial advisors, therapists – In this episode LCH/Wealth talks to Amanda Bell from SeparateSpace about which experts do what and how to spend your money wisely.

Prior to founding SeparateSpace Amanda spent the majority of her legal career in the market-leading, top-tier family law team at Withers LLP.

Lisa Conway-Hughes is a Chartered Financial Advisor, a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society and is founder of LCH/Wealth.

Book a one-to-one Financial Diagnosis with LCH/Wealth here:
https://lchwealth.co.uk/lch_wealth_services/

Lisa regularly posts financial information, education and updates on her hugely popular Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/misslollymoney

Divorce resources from SeparateSpace:

Free interactive book for children:
https://www.separatespace.co.uk/free-interactive-book-for-children

Join our Instagram community for daily support:
https://www.instagram.com/separatespace/

Download our free divorce checklist:
https://www.separatespace.co.uk/smarter-start-to-separation-essential-checklist

Download our free interactive children’s guide to divorce:
https://www.separatespace.co.uk/free-interactive-book-for-children

Register for our free webinar, Navigating Divorce with Confidence:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UnLhuKJPTSG7qyzeXh7Ehg#/registration

This content is to be used for information and educational purposes only and nothing contained in it is or is intended to be construed as individual financial advice. Financial advice must only be given on an individual basis. If you require legal advice, financial advice or any other expert assistance, you should seek the services of a competent and qualified professional.

If you would like to chat about financial advice please get in touch with abi@lchwealth.co.uk who will arrange a meeting with the right person for you at LCH/Wealth.

Show Transcript

Lisa Conway-Hughes: Welcome to today’s episode we’re talking about divorce again. And I’ve asked the lovely Amanda to come back on. Amanda is the founder of SeparateSpace and today we’re going to talk about all the different experts that you can have in a divorce and which ones to use and when so that you can use your money wisely.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: So welcome to the show Amanda.

Amanda Bell: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: So for those of our listeners who haven’t had the original episode that we did, just talk to us a little bit about SeparateSpace. What does it do? Who does it help?

Amanda Bell: I’m a divorce lawyer by background and created SeparateSpace. It’s an online, affordable legal platform for divorce and it puts all in one place the information, the guidance, the tools that you need to navigate divorce with confidence.
And it personalizes all of that to your circumstances. And it’s accessible in terms of price point, but also available 24/7.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: And not just any solicitor you. It’s one of the top firms. When you go. Thanks. Stay with me. You’re a safe pair of hands, Amanda. So I think one of the first experts that people think about when they’re getting divorced is solicitor.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: So. Well, let’s put it this way. What shouldn’t you talk to your solicitor about?

Amanda Bell: It is sort of baked into our culture, isn’t it? From TV and films and called the lawyer. Yeah. And lawyers, solicitors definitely have a place. What I would say to people is it’s good if you do a bit of research yourself if you’re going to see a lawyer, because then you can use that expensive, precious time as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Solicitors are legally trained. They’ve gone through a really thorough process so they will know the law. They will know how it applies to an individual circumstances. They are regulated by the SRA so that you know that you are speaking to a professional. And there are ways to use a solicitor that are more cost effective.
So it’s about, as I say, doing your research before you go and therefore asking the right questions and then following up from that meeting, doing the things that the solicitor has suggested that you do, so that they are not having to chase you because they charge by a six minute unit.

Amanda Bell: So a top tip from one of my clients, who was really, really happy with her solicitor, she managed to find local to her, a solicitor that had been in one of these top firms in her 20s and 30s, of a central London top firm. And as that lady had children, she’d moved out to be local to her. So if you look in people’s bios on the websites, you can actually find some of these really, really well trained solicitors right on your doorstep.
There are excellent solicitors out there. And if you are looking for a lawyer, always feel free to DM me on Instagram at SeparateSpace because I’m very happy to recommend people.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: Yeah. And so yeah, do your research. It’s also, it’s okay to have a call with more than one solicitor and figure out which one feels right for you. They do have different approaches. It is really personal, so feeling like you have a connection with them, you feel comfortable with them is important.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: So one expert that feels quite new is probably the divorce coach. So do you have to be rich to have a divorce coach?

Amanda Bell: So actually the options for professionals in this space now is a bit mind boggling. There are many different people working in space and divorce coaches. Divorce consultants are quite new to the scene. There is a distinction. It’s not a formal distinction. This is not a regulated area.
So what you get will vary. Again, do your research. A lot of divorce coaches have lived experience of divorce. And my understanding, having spoken to them, having seen how they work, is it that they’re holding your hand through the process. They’re sounding board. They will not give you legal advice. They don’t necessarily know about the law or the processes, but they are someone that is neutral.
Yeah, who you’re able to have a sort of partner through the process. Divorce consultants do much the same thing, but they tend to have a legal background.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: Okay. And I suppose they’re cheaper than a solicitor, I don’t know, but so you could go to them for different. Some of them aren’t okay. Yeah. Fine.

Lisa Conway-Hughes: And then so divorce coach, divorce consultant then financial advice obviously that’s me.