DivorceCompanion: What the Platform Does and Who It's For

What is DivorceCompanion?

DivorceCompanion is a web-based platform that guides people through the financial and procedural side of divorce in England and Wales. It was built by NovaColab Ltd, co-founded by Darren Lindsey and Tripti Srivastava. The founding insight came from Tripti's own experience: she spent £50,000 on her divorce and built DivorceCompanion as the platform she wished had existed.

The platform is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. What it does is fill the significant gap between the GOV.UK divorce portal, which handles the court application but nothing else, and a full solicitor engagement. DivorceCompanion guides you through financial disclosure, helps you understand every stage, and gives you the tools to complete the process accurately and confidently.

DivorceCompanion is available at divorcecompanion.co.uk and is operated by NovaColab Ltd (Company No. 17117292).

The three divorce routes, where DivorceCompanion sits

The DivorceCompanion product range

DivorceCompanion guides you through the financial and procedural side of divorce, the part GOV.UK doesn't cover.

What DivorceCompanion does, and doesn't do

DivorceCompanion is designed for people who want structure and tools, not full legal representation.

Who is DivorceCompanion for?

DivorceCompanion is designed for people going through an amicable or broadly cooperative divorce in England and Wales who want to manage the process themselves, with proper tools and guidance, rather than paying a solicitor to manage it for them.

The platform is particularly suited to people who:

• Are going through a no-fault divorce and want to understand every stage
• Need to complete Form E for financial remedy proceedings and want guided help
• Have reached a financial agreement and need to understand the consent order and D81 process
• Want to use a solicitor for specific advice but want to reduce the number of billable hours by preparing thoroughly themselves
• Cannot afford full solicitor representation but want more than GOV.UK alone provides

Why GOV.UK alone is not enough for most people

GOV.UK handles the divorce application itself, the form submission, the conditional order, the final order. What it does not do is guide you through the financial process. That is where most people who attempt full DIY run into serious difficulty, and sometimes serious financial harm.

The most common mistakes made by people who navigate without a platform like DivorceCompanion:

• Reaching a financial agreement without a consent order. A verbal or written agreement between spouses, even one both parties consider settled, has no legal force. Without a consent order sealed by the court, either party can make future financial claims against the other, sometimes years later. This is the most common and most expensive DIY mistake.
• Completing Form E inaccurately. Form E is the financial disclosure document used in contested financial proceedings. It has 28 sections covering assets, liabilities, income, pensions, business interests, and property. Errors, particularly in pension valuations or business asset disclosure, can undermine a settlement or expose a party to accusations of non-disclosure.
• Submitting a D81 with errors. The D81 (Statement of Information for a Consent Order) must accurately summarise both parties' financial positions. Courts reject D81s that are inconsistent with the proposed consent order terms, causing delays and additional court fees.
• Missing the pension sharing step. Pension assets, particularly defined benefit schemes, are often the largest matrimonial asset after the family home. People navigating without guidance frequently overlook or mishandle pension sharing orders, which cannot easily be corrected after the final order is made.
• Failing to achieve a clean break. Without explicit clean break provisions in the consent order, spousal maintenance claims remain live indefinitely. Many people do not know this, and discover the risk only when circumstances change.
• Missing stage deadlines. The no-fault divorce process has mandatory timings, the 20-week reflection period, the six-week wait before the final order. People without a stage tracker frequently apply at the wrong time or miss the window for combining financial and divorce proceedings efficiently.

DivorceCompanion exists specifically to prevent these mistakes, not by giving legal advice, but by guiding you through the process accurately, flagging risks at the right moment, and ensuring you know what you need to do and when.

DivorceCompanion is still right when your situation feels complicated

Many people assume that because their finances are not entirely simple, they need a solicitor for everything. That is not always true. DivorceCompanion is still the right starting point, often combined with selective solicitor advice, in many situations that feel complicated:

The rule of thumb: if both parties are communicating and broadly willing to reach an agreement, DivorceCompanion is the right starting point. Selective solicitor advice for specific complex elements costs a fraction of full representation.

When to stop and take specialist advice mid-process

DivorceCompanion is designed for the hybrid route. If your situation changes during the process, it is important to recognise the signals that mean you need specialist legal advice, and to act on them promptly.

• You receive a letter from your spouse's solicitor. Do not respond directly without understanding what it means and what your rights are. Take advice before engaging.
• Your spouse withdraws from the agreed financial settlement. If what was cooperative becomes contested, the DIY route is no longer appropriate for the financial proceedings.
• A business, overseas property, or complex pension is introduced into the financial discussion. These require specialist valuation and legal structuring that goes beyond what a guided platform can provide.
• You discover assets you were unaware of. Non-disclosure is a serious legal matter. Take advice on how to address it.
• You are asked to sign anything you do not fully understand. Never sign a consent order or any financial agreement without understanding what you are agreeing to. A one-hour solicitor consultation to review a document is a small cost against the risk of signing something binding.
• You are concerned about financial abuse or coercive control. If your spouse is pressuring you into an unfair settlement or you feel unsafe, stop and take specialist advice. Organisations including Rights of Women and Resolution can help.

Already started your divorce? DivorceCompanion works wherever you are

A significant number of people who find DivorceCompanion are not at the very beginning of their process. They may have already submitted the divorce application, be part-way through the 20-week reflection period, or have received their conditional order, and only now realised they need support for the financial process.

DivorceCompanion is designed for this. The platform's catch-up onboarding positions you at the correct stage based on where you already are, so you are never treated as a beginner regardless of how far you have progressed. If you have already filed but have not yet sorted the financial settlement, DivorceCompanion picks up from wherever you are.

How much does DivorceCompanion cost?

DivorceCompanion offers a free Clarity Plan, the route checker quiz and personalised plan, at no cost. Paid products are one-off purchases with no subscription:

• Amicable Execution Plan: £79, stage tracker, document vault, D81 builder, stage-by-stage guidance
• Form E Builder: £99, guided Form E completion, AI assistance, auto-calculation, court-ready PDF

Both paid products include a 7-day money-back guarantee. There is no ongoing subscription fee. The total cost of using DivorceCompanion alongside the court fee is significantly less than even a single hour of solicitor time for most people.