Any breakdown of a relationship is rarely straightforward and it is invariably emotionally and financially challenging. Our family team is expert, diligent and caring and will always have your best interests at heart. They offer calm and straightforward advice and try and help you find a solution that avoids the expense and stress of the court process. They try to establish whether your interests can be advanced by mutual cooperation with your spouse or partner, and, where appropriate, adopt a conciliatory and collaborative approach. In the right circumstances they may suggest mediation for you to try and negotiate and resolve matters in a relatively informal setting. Sometimes court proceedings have to be issued, either where an agreement cannot be reached or if there is a difficult or novel point of law involved. At all times our family team will guide clients through the court process as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Our lawyers have extensive expertise in dealing with many financial issues arising from the breakdown of a relationship and do so in a practical and focused manner. They deal with cases involving high value assets and incomes but also with cases where the parties’ means are more modest. They deal with cases where assets are tied up in family businesses, farms and trusts, and where assets are located both at home and abroad. They deal with maintenance issues, with family homes and other properties and with pensions. Financial cases can be complicated and it may be necessary to pursue hidden assets: there may be assets in different countries and your partner may be reluctant or unwilling to disclose them. Our skilled and energetic lawyers are experienced in dealing with all these scenarios. They offer straightforward advice to protect your interests to achieve a fair outcome for you.

Our lawyers are also very experienced in dealing with cases involving arrangements for children. The approach is usually to encourage parents (or other family members) to reach an agreement that is in the best interests of the children and mediation is often the appropriate forum. We also deal with financial applications in respect of children.

As well as helping when relationships break down, our lawyers are also able to help clients who want to plan ahead in case a relationship falters. They deal with pre-nuptial agreements and also cohabitation agreements. This helps provide security and certainty to clients in the unfortunate event their relationships break down in the future.

We represent clients based locally and many clients from elsewhere, including abroad. We routinely represent London based clients attracted by our expertise and growing reputation for providing an expert and resolute service on a par with London lawyers but on a considerably more cost effective basis. At all times our family lawyers provide pragmatic advice and support delivered with empathy and sensitivity.