What are the biggest mistakes people make when their relationship breaks down?

I think one of the main ones is it's really important to even informally get some legal advice reasonably early on, because the problem that I do commonly see is people really do quite naturally want to try and negotiate an arrangement between themselves.

And there's no issue with that.

It's just that if you do it without getting legal advice and you informally agree to something, even though that's not legally binding, it can still... create certain expectations and if you ultimately renege from that agreement after you've obtained legal advice then it does make it harder to negotiate so I think that if you get legal advice early on and then you want to go away and negotiate directly with your ex that's the most prudent way to do it because then you're making sure that you're not giving false expectations on something that you haven't received advice about.

I'm just ringing to ask what would happen if you can't agree on a separation date, like there's a five-year difference?

Very interesting question, Maria.

I've had court hearings to determine what the date of separation is because it's a factual assessment.

There's a number of different factors that a judge or a court would look at to determine when a couple separated.

What are the biggest mistakes people make when their relationship breaks down?

I think one of the main ones is it's really important to even informally get some legal advice reasonably early on, because the problem that I do commonly see is people really do quite naturally want to try and negotiate an arrangement between themselves.

And there's no issue with that.

It's just that if you do it without getting legal advice and you informally agree to something, even though that's not legally binding, it can still... create certain expectations and if you ultimately renege from that agreement after you've obtained legal advice then it does make it harder to negotiate so I think that if you get legal advice early on and then you want to go away and negotiate directly with your ex that's the most prudent way to do it because then you're making sure that you're not giving false expectations on something that you haven't received advice about.

I'm just ringing to ask what would happen if you can't agree on a separation date, like there's a five-year difference?

Very interesting question, Maria.

I've had court hearings to determine what the date of separation is because it's a factual assessment.

There's a number of different factors that a judge or a court would look at to determine when a couple separated.