The solicitor I went to in Scotland was one who was a member of the Family Law Association. These solicitors are specially trained in family law and mediation. Their main aim is to put the best interests of the children first. My solicitor was even quite happy to meet my ex and to try and act as a mediator between us and to point out to ex the best course of action for my son. The Family law Assocation has a web site called www.fla-scotland.co.uk. You might get some addresses of solicitors there.

I agree with Emily 100%. Seek legal advice, which i think should be free. Many solisitors will see for the first hour free. Before you go write a list of questions you need answering. looking through the web may help you clarify or extend questions. Get someone you trust to go with you and taping it could be useful because you'll never remember everything. Find and speak to your local childrens centre as they can support you and your daughter. I'm in gloucestershire so can help with scotish law.

Suffering from depression myself i do understand how hard it is to break any cycle that you find you get stuck in. I can guarentee its worth it, i've just got myself out of debt and its fantastic.

All the best
Alice

I think you need proper legal / financial advice about the house and seperating the home. But the bit I can comment on are your comments about your child becoming homeless and upsetting her routine. If you can't afford to take over the mortgage or buy your partner out then most likely you'll have to move. This isn't uncommon when people seperate as not many seperating couples can afford to run the matrimonial home plus another home (for dad usually) from the same pot of money they used to run just the one home from. Change is scarry and hard for everyone and no one really welcomes it, though it can have upsides. Moving to a new home can be a positive for you as you're leaving a failing relationship and starting with a fresh sheet of paper in a home that will be just yours, with no associations with your past etc. It can be your adventure as you build a home for you and your child. Your attitude to the move will help your daughter to accept it too. Be excited and it'll rub off on her. Try to keep local if you can and as near to Dad and all that's familiar as possible. If you can't afford to stay local then bring as much of the familiar as you can with you, for example if she loves her current room purple then paint her new room purple! Invite her friends round to tea or play regardless of how far away you live - just get the parents and children over for the day if it's any distance away. If you can keep some of her routine the same then do, otherwise get her settled in to a new one and try to be relaxed about it. Give her time to settle, remember it'll take time, don't fret about how long it takes, just keep reassuring her that you and her dad are still there and still love her and help her to find her feet. But please bear in mind that there are ways of helping children with change that may well be easier for you to do in the long run than taking on debt that you can't really afford or that worries you would be. If you're worried about money then you're going to be very anxious and distressed and it'll bring you (and by default, your daughter) down. Money worries, particularly with the economy as it is are a major cause of depression so please think very carefully about the financial implications of anything you do, but a financial adviser will be able to help you with this.

Lots of luck,

Emily