There is only one ground for divorce, and that is that the marriage has irretrievably broken down for one of the following reasons:

• your partner has committed adultery and you now find it intolerable to live with him/her
• your partner's behaviour is so unreasonable you cannot tolerate living with them any longer
• desertion (your partner has deserted you for a period of two years or more)
• you have been separated for two years and your partner agrees to a divorce
• you have been separated for five years

For the person bringing the divorce (the petitioner), divorce will be more expensive than for the respondent, as the respondent does not need legal advice to complete his/her form.

The fee for the legal dissolution of the marriage is in the region of £1,200, including court fees and VAT. There are additional costs for time spent negotiating a financial settlement, arrangements with children, and preparations for court orders, should they be necessary. We will give you a clear indication of likely costs at the outset.

If the divorce is not contested (ie both spouses agree to divorce) then it may take approximately four to six months. It could take longer if the financial arrangements are complicated or difficult to resolve. Each case will vary. We can give you an indication of time scales when we know the details of your situation.

We can ask the court to enforce the order. Ultimately, a partner who refuses to obey a court order could be sent to prison.

We can ask the court to enforce the maintenance payment. If you are receiving money through the Child Support Agency, they are able to enforce payment directly.

Initially, contact the police and call an ambulance, or visit your GP for treatment. If you need an injunction to prevent your partner contacting you again, in some circumstances we can apply for an emergency restraining order the same day without your partner being notified. In serious cases the court can grant a power of arrest which enables the police to arrest and remove your artner if they breach the order. We can also arrange for a violent partner to be moved out of your house.

This is a complex area in which you need proper advice. It will depend on the nature of the business, and how easily it can be sold. Courts are generally reluctant to order the sale of a business. Agreeing on a valuation of the business can also be an expensive, difficult area. However a settlement figure may be paid in compensation, particularly if you have played an active role in building up the business.

In many cases the spouse who is caring for the children retains the house. Sometimes the house can be sold and both partners can buy a new home from the proceeds.

The court has to take into account any pension which either you or your spouse have.

When a couple are near retirement, with a large pension fund, a wife may be offered a compensatory amount to cover for her loss of the share of the pension. From December 2000, divorcing couples can also divide their pension through a pension sharing order. Wives can transfer an investment value from their husband's pension into a scheme of their own.

A mediator is totally impartial and does not act for one or other of the parties in the way that solicitors do. The mediator is not there to take sides.

The mediator works at all times with both of you to identify the key issues which arise from your separation and helps you to reach solutions that will enable you both to put the past behind you and concentrate on the future, for yourself and your family.

Your mediator can be asked to deal with all of the issues that arise from your separation, or with specific issues only. Those issues may include for example: how the home is to be dealt with; how the other assets (whether separately or jointly owned) are to be dealt with; how any joint business arrangements should be dealt with; how any issues of maintenance and or child support can be resolved; and how parenting and contact arrangements with the children of the family should be dealt with.

Some couples, for example, are able to reach an agreement between themselves, or through their solicitors, upon the financial arrangements but cannot agree upon issues relating to their children or vice versa. The mediator will deal only with those issues on which the couple jointly seek assistance.

Mediation should be regarded as a service that complements independent legal advice to each party. We strongly encourage participants to take independent legal advice on any issues that may arise throughout the mediation process and on proposals worked out in mediation. Even after mediation takes place further negotiation may be needed between your legal advisers, but these should be shorter if the ground has been well covered in mediation.

Yes. Couples who seek the mediator's assistance in negotiating the terms of a financial settlement will need to be prepared to give full and frank disclosure of their financial positions. Each of the parties will be asked to complete forms giving details of their income, assets, liabilities and outgoings. Documentary evidence will need to be produced to verify those details. Where appropriate it may be necessary for independent valuations to be obtained in respect of some of the assets.

Your mediator undertakes not to disclose information to any other person or body without obtaining the written consent of all participants. There are some instances where the law or codes of practice impose an obligation upon the mediator to disclose information:

• if it becomes apparent during mediation that a child is suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm then the mediator must contact an appropriate agency and take any necessary steps outside of mediation to protect a child or other person potentially at risk
• if you are mediating about financial issues then you will be asked to sign an agreement at the outset of mediation, which confirms that you agree that financial and other material information will be provided on an open basis ( i.e. can be referred to in court or to legal advisers if court proceedings are subsequently issued)

It is not the mediator's role to impose an agreement upon you. Instead the mediator will work with you to identify the issues, encourage you to think about options and then assist you in negotiating proposals with which you are both content. That way the proposals reached are yours, rather than one that has been imposed upon you by a court.

If you reach terms of a settlement on some or all issues which are acceptable to you both, your mediator will draw up a Memorandum of Understanding, reflecting the proposals reached by you both. This document is then signed by both of you if approved. Each of you is then free to take the proposals reached in the Memorandum of Understanding to your respective solicitors so independent legal advice can be obtained and the document can be converted into a binding agreement or Consent Order. If you simply wish to treat the proposals as binding upon yourselves and do not wish to pursue matters further you are free to do so. However you need to bear in mind that the Memorandum of Understanding will not be a legally binding agreement but rather a set of proposals from which an agreement can be created.

Along with the Memorandum of Understanding your mediator will produce a summary of the financial information disclosed by each party to the mediation process, together with a summary of the reasons behind the decisions reached between you so that this can be made available to your solicitors if you elect to consult them.

This will depend on the complexity of the issues to be discussed and resolved. However, because matters are resolved by way of discussion, mediation can be much faster than the traditional process of resolving disputes, with the result that settlement can be reached within a matter of weeks or months. The average number of sessions is usually 2 to 4 but this should only be used as a guide.

Vanderpump & Sykes offer an optional half hour information meeting for a fixed fee of £25 +VAT. Each mediation session will last for one and a half hours and costs £100.00 plus VAT per person. The fees will be payable at the end of each session. By endeavouring to work with your mediator rather than against each other, the considerable costs of litigation are avoided, so the overall costs incurred should be much lower than would normally be the case.

There are many benefits to using mediation, some of them include: -

1. It is non-adversarial. There are no winners or losers in mediation. The lengthy and expensive process of litigating through solicitors and or the court in the traditional way is avoided.
2. It is mutual. You remain partners in the decision making. There is no settlement other than proposals which are mutually agreed upon by you both. Nothing is imposed upon you either by the mediator or by the court. The only proposals reached are those, which you reach between yourselves.
3. You control your own decisions over your own lives. Because the only agreements reached are those which you reach together, you, rather than the court or a third party take control over your futures and those of your children.
4. You concentrate on the future rather than the past. Your mediator will not seek to look into the reasons and rights or wrongs behind the breakdown of your relationship, but will encourage you to focus on the future rather than the past, and to develop new and separate lives, while if you have children, maintaining good working relationships as parents.
5. It is best for your children. Your children will inevitably be affected by your separation. However since mediation encourages parents to resolve their differences and reach agreements upon all matters relating to their separation in a dignified and constructive way with the focus on the best interests of the children, your children are likely to be less adversely affected by your separation and more likely to come to terms with it.
6. Bitterness is reduced. Because the only agreements reached are those with which you arrive at yourselves you are likely to feel more comfortable with the outcome, knowing that the agreement was made mutually between you.
7. Legal fees are reduced. The costs of litigation can be very great. By seeing your mediator and reaching a set of proposals together the overall fees incurred are likely to be substantially less than those that would be incurred otherwise.

If you and your partner/spouse are interested in discussing how the mediation process may help you, an information meeting can be arranged to consider whether mediation may be appropriate. You can attend the meeting separately or with your partner/spouse.

If you would like to make an appointment for an initial consultation, contact Karen ChapmanThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on 020 8367 3999/ 020 8367 6252 or email karenchapman@vanderpumps.co.uk

Potentially anyone aged over 21 who is resident in the UK can apply to adopt a child. Applications can be made solely - ie by one person, or jointly.

Joint applications can only be made by a married couple or civil partnership or two people living as partners in an enduring family relationship. (The age restrictions can change if a couple make a joint application; it may be possible for women as young as 18 to adopt in such circumstances).

• the child must be under the age of 18. Different rules apply to the length of time the child has had their home with you prior to the application; from 10 weeks, if the child was placed for adoption by an agency or court, or six months if one of the applicants is the partner and the other is the parent of the child. In other cases it can be one year or more.
• in a non-agency placement, you must inform your local authority that you intend to apply for an adoption order at least three months before you apply
• an adoption application is prepared for the court. (You can ask a solicitor to do this for you, or apply on your own behalf.)
• the local authority will carry out an investigation into your adoption application, including home visits to check their well-being and the environment in which they will be living.
  NB it is an offence to refuse to allow the visits. You must also keep the local authority informed of any permanent change of address, either two weeks before you move, or up to one week afterwards in the case of an emergency
• the court will make the Order for Adoption taking into account all the circumstances affecting the well-being of the child. This includes the child's own feelings and wishes, the long-term benefits to the child, and whether each current parent/guardian consents to the adoption freely, unconditionally and with full understanding of what is involved
• if a parent or person with parental responsibility cannot be located, we need to make an application to the court for that person's agreement to the adoption to be dispensed with

If a natural parent disagrees with the adoption process they have the opportunity to discuss this with the Local Authority, who will include this information in their report. A biological parent who doesn't have parental responsibility can apply for contact, or parental responsibility, and the court will consider their application alongside the adoption order. The court may be reluctant to pass an Adoption Order if one parent is strongly opposed to it.

The application must be made within the first six months of the child's birth, but not before the child is six weeks old. The court must be satisfied that the commissioning parents do not pass any benefits or money to the surrogate mother in connection with making the order (not including expenses for maternity clothes, travel, ante-natal checks etc.)

Although the parental order makes the commissioning parents the child's sole legal parents, it does not sever the legal relationship between the child and his or her biological mother, who retains her parental responsibility.