When you separate, emotions can run high and it is all too easy to let these cloud your decision-making process. It is important to get legal advice so that you understand what the issues are, what your rights are, and how best to sort things out. You will be unlikely to have experienced divorce before and will be unaware of the many pitfalls you can fall into which can cost you time, money and stress. Your solicitor on the other hand will have experience of countless divorce cases and will be able to use this experience and knowledge of the law to guide you through the process. Even if you think that you have managed to agree everything with your spouse, you should still get some legal advice to make sure that you have thought of everything and to get the agreement formally drawn up and ratified by a court so that it is binding. The last thing you want in your new life is for your ex-spouse to be able to make a financial claim against you in the future which can happen even years after the divorce has taken place if it has not been formalised properly.