Ending a marriage - AdviceGuide

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Information applies to Scotland only
On divorce the court can make a wide variety of orders about the home and
possessions. These orders will normally be made along with orders about money.
If you decide to leave your home, depending on your circumstances you may be
able to apply for long-term accommodation from your local authority as a
homeless person – see under Further help.
Tenants
If you have a joint tenancy you may be able to agree between yourselves about
which one of you should get the tenancy. You can ask your landlord to transfer the
tenancy. If you cannot agree, the court can be asked to decide about a transfer.
The court can transfer the tenancy to your name, even if your partner is the sole
tenant, or you and your partner are joint tenants.
If your partner is the sole tenant they will still be responsible for paying the rent. If
rent arrears are building up the landlord may seek to evict you.
If the tenancy is in your name you may be able to get help with your housing costs
for example housing benefit and Council Tax Reduction – see under Further help.
Owner-occupiers
The long-term right to ownership of your property can be decided during divorce
proceedings. The court has the power to transfer property regardless of original
ownership. If you decide to move out, you will usually have the right to move back
in at a later date (although this is time limited), and to stop your partner selling the
property without your knowledge. If there are children, the courts can include
property as part of an overall settlement to protect the children.
You may be able to get help with your housing costs for example, council tax
benefit and help with your mortgage – see under Further help.
Children
At the end of your marriage, both you and your partner will be responsible for
supporting your children financially, regardless of which one of you the children
live with. There is a useful guide called ‘Parenting Agreement for Scotland –
Guide’ available to help separating parents make decisions about the care of their
children available from the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk
If it is not possible to come to a voluntary agreement for the care of your children,
a court can be asked to intervene. The court can make orders about who the
children should live with. The order will usually allow contact between the child
and the parent with whom the child is not living, unless there are exceptional
circumstances.
Claims for maintenance for children are either dealt with by voluntary agreement,
or from a court order or the Child Support Agency (CSA) or Child Maintenance
Service (CMS). If your children live with you after your marriage ends, you can
use the CSA or CMS to get maintenance for the children, but you don’t have to. If
you want advice about anything to do with maintenance agreements you can
phone the Child Maintenance Options (CMO) helpline on 0800 988 0988 or look
at the CMO website at www.cmoptions.org.uk.
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