Instructing a report as a family-law solicitor

Who this is for

Family and divorce solicitors, legal executives, barristers and other legal professionals who need an independent mortgage-capacity figure for financial-remedy proceedings, FDR, mediation or pre-action negotiation.

We are used to working to hearing dates, taking instructions from the firm rather than the client, and writing in a form that a judge and the other side can read without a covering lecture.

How to instruct

Send a short enquiry from the contact page, or email hello@mymortgagereport.co.uk. Tell us whether the instruction is for one party or both, the hearing or negotiation date if there is one, and any scenarios the court or you want modelled.

We will confirm the fee (£250 single, £450 joint; two affordability scenarios included, £25 for each additional scenario) and send our data-capture form. Your client, or you on their behalf, returns the form with the supporting documents. Reports are typically ready within 48 hours of a complete file.

Single or joint

Instruct a single report where only one party’s capacity is in issue. Instruct a joint report where both parties need an assessment. A joint instruction is two independent reports, not a blended figure — each person’s income and commitments are assessed separately, which preserves confidentiality and gives the court two clean numbers.

What makes a report usable in court

The methodology has to be transparent: what income was used, how non-guaranteed pay was treated, which commitments were deducted, and which term and retirement age were applied. Lenders do not all treat bonus, overtime, self-employed profits or maintenance in the same way. The report should say so, rather than present a single optimistic number as a fact.

We write for a legal reader. The conclusion is at the front. The workings follow. If something is likely to be challenged — for example a short track record of bonus, or maintenance without a court order — we flag it.

Timescales

Tell us the date you need the report. We prepare promptly once the information is complete. Incomplete payslips, missing company accounts or an unclear deposit figure are what delay reports, not the writing of them.