When in a separation do you first meet clients?

Video Transcription

Peter Hardy - The Lincoln divorce team

Obviously not everybody comes when their relationship is over. So, if you look at it from a practical point of view in terms of a husband and wife, infrequently they've made a joint decision that it's not working out. But more typically, one party has had a think and has decided it's not for them, but the other may be unaware or they may know there are some bumps in the road but they might not know they're in great difficulty. They might just think the ebb and flow of a long-term relationship. So when one communicates to the other, "It's done, it's time to move on," the person receiving that information might not be ready to hear it. That's when they come to us for the first chat. So 50% of the time, you might see somebody, "I'm done, I want to go through this process." But 50% of the time, "I've just had this information shared with me, it's an absolute earthquake, I've got all these worries, I don't know where to turn, what to do next." So the key element is to empower that person, to share information as best you can, and to then allow them to collect their thoughts and to give them control.