Every married couple has their own particular financial and family situation which turns the legal process for getting a separation and divorce into an obstacle race... unless the parties come to an amicable agreement. However it makes a big difference if you got married with legally separated assets or joint assets, or if there are children involved or not. Contrary to the opinion commonly held some decades ago, the first option -legal separation of assets - does not presuppose a lack of confidence in the relationship.  Like it or not, money -which they say taints everything- plays a leading role in many marital disputes.

The first thing you need to know is that divorce is by no means instant. The first step is separation. There are three possible scenarios regarding separation to consider: by mutual agreement, without agreement and through the courts.
In the first case -by far the least messy for the couple involved- both spouses must prove that they have been living apart for at least two years. As documentary proof all you need is, say, some bills for electricity, water, telephone or rent in each spouses name with different addresses. If the divorce is contested one of the parties must prove that he or she has not lived under the same roof as their partner for at least five years. Going through the courts, it�s enough for the couple to have been apart for one year.

 

Mutual agreement
For any kind of separation a visit to a lawyer is required. To save time it�s a good idea to take along a copy of your marriage certificate (apply for one at the Registry Office wherever your marriage ceremony took place, whether it was a civil or church wedding: it only takes a few days to get).
A couple with children also need to take along copies of their birth certificates. The lawyer will ask for power of attorney to act on the two parties� behalf and start working on the divorce. It is presupposed that the couple have already decided who is going to stay in the family home and who is going to move out, and also who is going to have custody over the children, how marital assets are to be divided (this applies whichever legal status regarding assets you may have married under) and the amount of any maintenance payments, for either the husband or wife, and for the upkeep of the children. If the couple can manage to reach an agreement on all the above issues, they will have saved themselves a lot of money and unpleasantness, since the lawyer will only need to draft a document listing the agreements reached. Next, the lawyer will put this agreement before the examining magistrate responsible for pronouncing sentence. An optimistic reckoning of the time for the whole process is between two and three months. The lawyer will charge around  600 euros for representing the couple. Then you have to add some 300 euros for the drafting of the divorce agreement and another 270 euros to pay the solicitor. In total, with an amicable agreement, the total price of a divorce is around 1,200 euros.
If the divorce is disputed or you go through the courts, lawyers� fees tend to be whatever the market will stand, and compensation is awarded at the judge�s discretion. In other words, the price of a divorce can go through the roof.

 

Family mediation centres
Surveys show that marriage is the family unit most highly valued by the Spanish. Which is why governments are so keen on drafting policies and legislation to support and protect this social institution. On of the most recent initiatives to be put into place are mediation centres. Represents an important step forward for the protection of the family as the most important unit to guarantee social cohesion, and will give special support to those families with a large number of children or low incomes, paying special attention to the problem of reconciling the conflicting demands of family and work, and promoting mediation as a way of resolving disputes. There are currently close to forty mediation centres in Spain and the aim is to set up at least one for each province.

 

SURVEY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
A study revealed that every year the break up of families in Great Britain costs around 30,000 million pounds sterling (44,500 million euros). According to figures published last year by the Telegraph and The Independent newspapers this cost is the sum of social security benefits, the cost of the divorcees� related health problems, the loss of economic production, and the rise in crime. Great Britain has the highest divorce rate in Europe. In 1998 there were 145,000 failed marriages, double the number in 1971, and a total of 150,000 children were affected by divorces. According to the abovementioned study, nowadays two out of every five marriages end in divorce and one child in four will experience the break up of their family before the age of 16.