London, United Kingdom, October 2nd, 2026, FinanceWire
Easy Online Divorce, an SRA-regulated law firm providing fixed-fee divorce and agreed financial order services across England and Wales, is challenging the assumption that separation should automatically begin with two opposing solicitors. Built around an agreement-led model, the firm argues that where couples are able to reach agreement, introducing an adversarial structure from the outset can create unnecessary conflict, increase stress and add to the cost of divorce.
Founded by James Brien following his own experience of divorce, Easy Online Divorce was established around a different starting question for separating couples: “Do we actually have anything to fight about?”
Rather than automatically placing each person on opposing sides of a legal process, the firm provides regulated legal services for couples who are able to reach agreement over their separation and financial arrangements. Its approach is not positioned as a replacement for independent representation where that representation is necessary, but as an alternative starting point for cases where there may be no substantive dispute to resolve.
“I started Easy Online Divorce because I didn’t think the traditional process of two opposing solicitors worked for many separating couples,” said James Brien, Founder and Managing Director of Easy Online Divorce. “If two people can reach agreement, putting them on opposite sides can create conflict that wasn’t there to begin with, making the process more stressful and pushing up the cost.”
Starting With Agreement Rather Than Opposition
Easy Online Divorce provides uncontested divorce services alongside agreed financial orders, including consent orders and clean break orders. Services are delivered on a fixed-fee basis rather than being charged according to the amount of professional time spent on an individual case.
The firm describes its model as a “one couple, one expert” approach for appropriate matters where both parties are able to reach agreement. This distinction is central to the service: Easy Online Divorce does not argue that every divorce can or should proceed without separate representation.
Cases involving significant disagreement, safeguarding concerns, coercion, complex financial circumstances or issues requiring individual legal advice may require independent legal representation. The firm’s position is instead that a solicitor-against-solicitor structure should not automatically be treated as the starting point before establishing whether a genuine dispute exists.
“People have been conditioned to think that when they divorce, the first question is, ‘Which solicitor do I need?’” Brien said. “I think the first question should be: ‘Do we actually have anything to fight about?’”
Delivering a Regulated Legal Service Online
Technology supports the firm’s agreement-led model through digital questionnaires, electronic document preparation, electronic signing and online case management, which are used as part of the delivery and management of its legal services.
Brien said the objective is not simply to move a conventional legal process online. Instead, the technology sits alongside a legal service structured specifically for couples whose circumstances may not require an adversarial process.
“Technology on its own does not necessarily improve the experience,” Brien said. “The important question is how the legal service itself is structured and whether that structure is appropriate for the circumstances of the people using it.”
Easy Online Divorce is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and provides regulated legal services rather than operating solely as a self-service document platform.
Easy Online Divorce says it is the only dedicated online divorce provider in England and Wales regulated by the SRA.
Evidence Behind the Agreement-Led Model
According to Easy Online Divorce, its services have saved clients an estimated £8.7 million in legal fees since launch. The firm also reports that its clients complete their divorces in just over seven months on average, compared with approximately 67 weeks between divorce application and Final Order according to the national Family Court Statistics referenced by the company.
For Easy Online Divorce, these figures are not intended to suggest that every separation can follow the same path. Instead, they illustrate what the firm says can be achieved when appropriate cases are handled through a fixed-fee service designed around agreement rather than conflict.
British Legal Awards Recognition
In 2025, Easy Online Divorce was named Alternative Legal Service Provider of the Year at the British Legal Awards.
The recognition marked a milestone for a business Brien initially started from his kitchen table in Newquay, Cornwall, before developing it into a regulated online legal service operating across England and Wales.
Brien said the firm’s development reflects growing interest in different ways of delivering legal services when the circumstances of a separation do not necessarily require an adversarial process.
For couples who are able to reach agreement, Easy Online Divorce says its fixed-fee model can provide a more proportionate route for completing the legal requirements of divorce and formalising agreed financial arrangements. Where a genuine dispute or circumstances requiring independent advice exist, separate legal representation remains an important part of the legal system.
The distinction, according to the firm, is not between using solicitors and avoiding them. It is about determining what kind of legal support a separating couple actually needs before automatically placing them on opposing sides.
About Easy Online Divorce
Easy Online Divorce is an SRA-regulated law firm providing fixed-fee divorce and agreed financial order services to clients across England and Wales. Founded by James Brien in 2020 following his own experience of divorce, the firm has developed an agreement-led legal service for couples who are able to reach agreement over their separation and financial arrangements.
Easy Online Divorce says its services have saved clients an estimated £8.7 million in legal fees and reports an average divorce completion time of just over seven months. The firm was named Alternative Legal Service Provider of the Year at the 2025 British Legal Awards.
Easy Online Divorce Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 8008631.
Website: https://www.easyonlinedivorce.co.uk