Is escape from domestic abuse on your resolution list?
January is D-Day for many women seeking Divorce from Domestic abuse and coercive control.
Every January since it was first established in 2016, Affordable Justice reports an average 50 per cent increase in women seeking support and advice about legal issues relating to divorce, domestic violence, and childcare arrangements. The new year historically sees a spike in demand due to the pressures of Christmas, but this year the women-founded legal charity also attributes the increase to the cost-of-living crisis and the continuing economical unpredictability leading to financial pressure on individual households.
While many domestic abuse charities experience an increase in demand for practical help and support during the festive week, many of these women will start the new year determined to break the cycle and start legal proceedings. Affordable Justice services are designed to help these women access much needed legal help and support which might otherwise be inaccessible to women who have no recourse to legal aid.
"January is always a busy month, but this year in particular, we are speaking with increasing numbers of women coming to us who have simply gone beyond the point of no return in terms of putting up with the controlling and threatening behaviour of their partners or former partners" commented Affordable Justice founder and director Lisa Hilder.
"Already frustrated and agitated by financial pressures, with emotions exacerbated by alcohol, and then struggling through the additional expenses incurred at Christmas, many families would have spent the last few weeks living in a pressure cooker environment. So, as we enter January, a time when the festive debt hits depleted bank accounts, it is no wonder any final threads start snapping."
Another issue that becomes more prevalent around this time of year is disputes over childcare arrangements between couples who have already separated. No matter how ‘amicable' arrangements might be, at least one of the parties often ends up spending Christmas Day separated from their family, and this can evoke intense feelings of injustice.
"We often deal with ex-partners who are trying to exert a degree of control over areas that they can't really control, and making threats over existing child arrangements are almost an outlet for that sense of resentment," continued Lisa Hilder. "Arrangements that might have been working suddenly become a point of contention, and this can be extremely unsettling for children who are already coping with volatile parental communication."
Affordable Justice was set up specifically to help women who were not eligible for legal aid when the legal aid restrictions were put in place back in 2013. The normal cost of commercial solicitors can be prohibitive for many people, keeping them trapped in unhappy and abusive marriages. For women worrying about the cost of consulting a lawyer about such issues, Affordable Justice offers a service charged at less than a third of typical high street rates.
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For further press information please contact:
Kate Ashley-Norman
i3MEDIA Ltd
T: 01733 890836