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Apparently if we are to believe what we are told Monday 24^th January is going to be the most depressing day of the year – but all is not lost as help is at hand. The Government’s initiative to introduce a ‘happiness index’ to measure what makes people happy or not will surely save us  from slipping quietly into depressing oblivion when Monday morning arrives with a whimper. The index will look at quality of life and our environment and what factors impact on our happiness and general well being.  It does seem a slightly odd time to look at creating ‘a happiness index’ when the country is trying to cope with high inflation, unemployment, the reduction of welfare benefits and the problems in accessing justice. If the results of the index show that we are all generally rather miserable (in particular on ‘Blues Monday’) – is the Government going to prescribe us all with ‘happy pills’?

I suspect, in stating the obvious, that being in a happy marriage/relationship adds to the happiness factor and being in an unhappy one does not. The month of January has been classed the ‘divorce month’ of the year when more people than in any other month enquire about getting divorced. The important factor is that people do get advice. The more information they have about the legal aspects of a divorce and the options for them in relation to the children and finances the better equipped they are to deal with the process and to make the right decisions and the easier the process becomes.

The Governments promotion of mediation and the emphasis on reaching agreement makes good sense, however a note of caution in not getting a financial agreement made into a binding court order. In the unreported case of Page, Nigel Page won £56 million on the lottery; no doubt on hearing such news this took him well up the ‘happiness index’. However the champagne fizz soon evaporated when his estranged wife came knocking on his door and said she wanted a share of his winnings. The parties had been separated for two years and had reached a financial agreement at the time of their separation. That agreement was never made into a binding court order which meant that his wife was entitled to bring a claim. It is essential even in cases where both parties have agreed how to divide their assets that the agreement is recorded in a court order. A lot of clients believe that the divorce brings an end to their financial claims this is not the case as Mr. Page soon found out.

I suspect that most of us will get through ‘Blues Monday’ unscathed even if the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse are riding hot on our heels.

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