Lorraine Harvey
Partner, Family Law
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English
For initial legal advice call our Family Law Solicitors and we will help you.
Our Family Law Solicitors and Divorce Solicitors are here to offer you practical legal advice and support.
We know family law issues are extremely sensitive - whether you’re facing a divorce, a dispute about your child or needing to arrange an adoption. We aim to minimise animosity in every case, we’ll help you to be clear about where you stand legally, and we’ll take firm legal action when it’s needed.
Our goal is to get the best possible outcome for you and your children. We can tailor our service to your unique situation, and our Family Solicitors will always communicate with you in plain English with no legal jargon.
We have an excellent national reputation in Family Law. We are accredited by the Law Society of England and Wales, and all of our team are members of Resolution, a national organisation of Family Law Lawyers committed to non-confrontational divorce, separation and other family law problems.
Our legal experts work on fixed fees or hourly rates and will explain your costs and payment options upfront, so you’ll know exactly where you stand.
For initial legal advice, get in touch with our Family Law Solicitors.
We're rated‘Excellent’Family law covers a broad range of legal issues from In legal terms, family law is the collection of legislation relating to family relationships. This includes divorce, finances, injunctions and child-related issues, with each area setting out the rights and responsibilities of family members.
A Family Law Solicitor is a specialist in the area of family law and children’s law. They often attend specialist training and courses focused on dealing with emotional and often complex family law matters.
The amount you will pay in legal fees depends on the type of family law matter you need advice and representation on and things such as whether you have to go to Court. You can get Legal Aid for some family law matters such as care proceedings and if you are the victim of domestic abuse. We offer a fixed fee for some services such as divorce.
You can find out more about our fees here. Your Solicitor will also discuss how much our legal advice will cost at your first introductory meeting.
Yes, both refer to legal professionals who provide advice, support, and representation in family law matters.
In the UK the term Family Law Solicitor is more commonly used. You may also hear the term Family Law Barrister. This is a person who is instructed by your Solicitor to present your case in the Family Court.
We’ll provide legal advice and representation on the following:
Divorce or separation is one of the most difficult and painful events you’ll ever have to go through. Regardless of how harmonious things are between you and your partner, separating two lives into one is never easy, especially if you have children. More than any other time in your life, having an experienced, sensitive, and assertive Family Law Solicitor by your side is essential. We’ll help you look past the emotional aspect of the situation so you can decide on practical matters such as how much money you will need now and, in the future, and making arrangements for your children.
You don’t have to go through getting divorced alone. We’ll be by your side, providing pragmatic legal advice on things such as:
And if your religious or cultural beliefs mean divorce is not an option, we’ll help you get a legal separation. You can trust us to take the stress of the situation off your shoulders and be by your side throughout the divorce/dissolution/separation process.
One of the most pressing aspects on your mind is likely to be sorting out you and your partner’s finances. Selling property and dividing assets can lead to disputes. As Resolution members, our Family Law Solicitors are committed to resolving disputes around financial settlements and financial orders (for example Consent Orders) using non-court methods such as round-table negotiation. But if we have to go to Court to get you the settlement you need, we will do so.
We’ll discuss all matters of the financial settlement with you including the sale of property, spousal maintenance, pensions, and business interests. You can be confident that we will get you the settlement you need and want, or if you are the financially stronger partner, protect your wealth in so far as possible while negotiating a fair financial settlement that the Court will support.
The wellbeing and needs of your children are one of our main priorities. We can help and support you on making arrangements for your children following a divorce or separation. Our Solicitors can advise you on what to do if you and your partner cannot agree on who your children should live with permanently and when the other parent should have access.
We’ll support you in sorting out arrangements for your children between yourselves. If a dispute develops, we can explore mediation to help you reach a resolution. But if the matter has to be decided by a Judge, you can trust we will present an expertly prepared case to the Family Court and protect the best interests of your children.
We understand how distressing disputes around child custody, and visitation rights can be, especially if there is a history of abuse, coercive control, or narcissism in your relationship. We are nationally recognised as expert Child Law Solicitors and are accredited by the Law Society of England and Wales. We’ll help you resolve your dispute and provide details of support services if you want to talk to someone further about your situation.
Our Family Lawyers are ranked in the Legal 500 and are recognised as one of the top child law experts in the country. We are on the list of Child Protection Solicitors in Leeds, London, Liverpool, and Bristol but can provide help anywhere in England and Wales.
Child law requires special training, sensitivity, and expertise. Our specialists can help you with a range of children law matters. These include:
If you’re living with your partner but aren’t married or in a civil partnership, you may not know that it’s a “common law” myth that simply living together gives you similar rights to married couples.
No matter how long you live together, if your relationship breaks down, you won’t have any of the legal protections that come with marriage, particularly relating to claims for income or maintenance, unless you have children together, or sharing your partner’s pension.
A Cohabitation Agreement, also known as a Living Together Agreement, is a legally binding contract that can protect you should you and your live-in partner separate. It sets out who gets what. Also, you can include who pays for what bills and expenses while you are living together.
We’ll advise you on what your Cohabitation Agreement should include and whether its terms are fair and reasonable. Your can be confident that we will always look after your best interests, so if your relationship breaks down you won’t be left with nothing. And if you believe you have a right to a share of a property that is in your ex-partner’s name, we can advise you on making a claim under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA).
When you’re planning your wedding or beginning life as newlyweds, thinking about what will happen if you split up is probably the last thing on your mind. But if you have property, business interests, or other assets you want to keep separate from a financial settlement should you divorce, a Pre-nuptial or Post-Nuptial Agreement is essential. Pre-nups are signed before the wedding and a Post-nup agreement is negotiated after you are married.
Nuptial Agreements are not legally binding but if they are fair and certain conditions are met, for example, both you and your spouse talked to your own Solicitors before signing the agreement, the Court is likely to honour its terms. We’ll provide detailed legal advice and draft a fair agreement that has the best chance of being upheld by the Court if your relationship breaks down.
When a relationship ends children need continuing financial support. Child maintenance arrangements meet a child's day-to-day living expenses, one-off expenses and housing costs after parents separate.
In most cases, we are able to help couples negotiate child support between themselves, so they don’t have to go to Court. We can also help you understand child support calculations made by the Child Maintenance Service. If you are unmarried and you and your ex-partner cannot agree on child maintenance, we can advise and support you in getting a Financial Order from the Court.
Spousal maintenance is a one-off payment, or periodic payments made from one spouse to another following divorce and is separate to child maintenance. It often causes disputes between couples, when one person wants a clean break but the other has financial needs that cannot be met through the sale of matrimonial property.
The English Courts are known for taking into consideration the needs of the financially weaker spouse when it comes to spousal maintenance. This is because the Court gives equal weight to financial and non-financial contributions during the marriage.
Our Family Law Solicitors will help you negotiate spousal support payments. If an agreement can’t be reached, we’ll bring Court proceedings to get a Financial Order and work tenaciously to get you the money you need to move on with your life. And if you are the financially stronger spouse, you can be confident we have the expertise to protect your wealth and make sure spousal maintenance payments continue only as long as necessary.
For most divorcing or separating couples, the family home is the biggest asset. Our Family Law team will advise you on your options when it comes to deciding the best way to deal with your property. For example, you may choose that the parent with whom your children mostly live with stays in the family home until your youngest child turns 18 years and then divide the money from the sale equally. This is a common solution as it minimises disruption to children’s lives and friendships. We’ll help you and your ex-spouse work out the best solution for you and your family.
Non-court dispute resolution (NCDR) also known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an incredibly important part of family law. As members of Resolution, we are committed to helping families resolve their disputes through NCDR methods such as round-table negotiation. We can also help with mediation. We’ll also advise you on the process of the initial Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM). And if NCDR is not right for you due to a history of abuse or control in your relationship, we’ll protect you and file Court proceedings.
If your child has been abducted by the other parent, we know you will be terrified that you will never see them again. Our Family Law Solicitors have extensive experience in Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This Convention gives Courts in countries that have signed the Convention the authority to return the child to the UK.
We’re also able to defend such proceedings if you are the abducting parent. And if your child has been taken to a country that is not a Hague Convention signatory, we’ll negotiate with legal professionals and the Court in the country where your child is in order to have them safely returned to the UK.
We’ll advise and represent you if you believe your ex-partner is alienating your child against you or refusing to let you see them. Parental alienation can be devastating, and you can feel powerless. We will be by your side, supporting you. It is crucial that you get our help as soon as possible so we can take steps to deal with the situation before it gets out of hand.
We are sensitive, friendly, and dependable and most importantly our family law team is recognised as one of the best in the country. Family law matters can be extremely complex and full of emotion. We’ll be the people you can rely on to support you, act in the best interests of your children, and find solutions that work for your whole family.
Our Family Law Solicitors are members of Resolution, an organisation of family law professionals that promotes resolving family disputes in a non-confrontational way and lobbies for positive changes to the family law system. We are also ranked in the Legal 500 and hold a Family Law Accreditation from the Law Society of England and Wales. This shows our team’s dedication to providing exceptional legal advice and representation to all our clients.
It is important to choose a Family Law Solicitor you feel comfortable with. They will be helping you through one of the most emotional journey’s of your life, so you need someone who you can talk with openly and who returns your calls and emails promptly.
We know how much our clients rely on us to support them through difficult circumstances. We are accredited in Family Law by the Law Society of England and Wales and are members of Resolution. This, along with our excellent reviews shows that we are dedicated, knowledgeable, kind, and determined to achieve the results you want.
We are sensitive, friendly, and dependable and most importantly our family law team is recognised as one of the best in the country. Family law matters can be extremely complex and full of emotion. We’ll be the people you can rely on to support you, act in the best interests of your children, and find solutions that work for your whole family.
Our Family Law Solicitors are members of Resolution, an organisation of family law professionals that promotes resolving family disputes in a non-confrontational way and lobbies for positive changes to the family law system. We are also ranked in the Legal 500 and hold a Family Law Accreditation from the Law Society of England and Wales. This shows our team’s dedication to providing exceptional legal advice and representation to all our clients.
It is important to choose a Family Law Solicitor you feel comfortable with. They will be helping you through one of the most emotional journey’s of your life, so you need someone who you can talk with openly and who returns your calls and emails promptly.
We know how much our clients rely on us to support them through difficult circumstances. We are accredited in Family Law by the Law Society of England and Wales and are members of Resolution. This, along with our excellent reviews shows that we are dedicated, knowledgeable, kind, and determined to achieve the results you want.
During the initial consultation we’ll discuss your situation and see if we can help you. We’ll also talk to you about paying for legal fees. You will feel supported and listened to from the outset.
A Family Law Solicitors first priority is to give up-to-date, practical advice. If you choose to attend round-table negotiations or mediation, we’ll help you organise everything. In cases where Court proceedings are needed to resolve financial or child arrangement disputes, we will prepare a robust case and represent you. And if you need extra support, we can put you in touch with support services who can help you and your children through what is often a stressful and emotional time.
The family law system in England and Wales encourages people to resolve disputes between themselves. This is because going to Court can be expensive and stressful.
As members of Resolution, we are committed to helping our clients avoid going to Court. But if NCDR is unavoidable, we will be fully prepared to protect the best interests of you and your children.
Legal Aid is available for some family law matters such as care proceedings and to victims of domestic abuse. We’ll talk through all your options and tell you whether you can apply for Legal Aid. We can also apply on your behalf.
If you are not entitled to Legal Aid, there are other ways you can fund your case. Our legal experts work on fixed fees or hourly rates and will explain your costs and payment options upfront, so you’ll know exactly where you stand.
It is natural to be worried about money when dealing with a family law matter. But rest assured, we’ll take you through all the options so you can make an informed choice on how best to pay your legal fees.
Processes and timelines in family law cases vary considerably. Generally, you will have an initial consultation meeting where you will discuss your case with one of our Family Lawyers. They will then research the law, provide advice, negotiate with the other side (for example your spouse, social workers, or the Child Maintenance Service, organise mediation if required, and finalise any decisions you make.
In the case of Court proceedings, we will prepare your case, provide advice, instruct Barristers and expert witnesses if required, and support you through the process.
Timelines depend on the type and complexity of your case. A simple divorce can be completed in around 12 months, but a high-net-worth financial settlement or difficult child dispute can take years to resolve. The most important take-away is that you can trust our team to do everything possible to complete your case quickly and cost-effectively without compromising on getting the results you want.
A Family Law Solicitor deals with legal matters that involve you and your family, such as your spouse, your partner, your children and the family home.
In 2021, there were 113,505 divorces in the UK, which is 9.6% higher than the previous year. According to the Office for National Statistics, this rise could have been down to the disruption in family courts activities during the pandemic, but there is still an obvious rise year on year. That rise covers an average of 42% of marriages getting a divorce, so knowing where you stand legally is important.
There are several reasons as to why you may be looking to change your child’s name. Whether you’re getting divorced from their other parent or re-married and you want to change your child’s name to reflect this, there are certainly options for you.
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