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Regulated by The Bar Standards Board
Family Finance
Our barristers are experts in matrimonial finance and can assist in the full range of disputes involving the need to divide assets on the breakdown of a relationship, from modest to high value cases. We can assist in financial disputes that arise when couples separate, including civil partnerships and unmarried couples, but we also advise in Inheritance Act claims, disputes over wills and cases regarding maintenance of children.
We have experience in dealing with complex disputes involving businesses, trusts, injunctions and international elements. As a result our clients appreciate the value for money offered by our family barristers who also practice in complementary areas such as property, insolvency and employment law.
In cases of urgency, our team can also assist you in preparing and presenting applications to the Court to prevent your spouse dissipating or hiding assets in an attempt to conceal them during the divorce process.
We also advise about and draft separation agreements, including pre-nuptial and cohabitation agreements
Children – private cases
Our barristers regularly deal with disputes arising over children, and in particular applying for, responding to or enforcing child arrangement orders. These include orders about with whom a child should live and what, if any, time they should spend with another parent (previously known as ‘residence’ and ‘contact’ cases).
We can also provide expert advice regarding the full range of Children Act orders, including Prohibited Steps Orders (e.g. preventing changing of a child’s surname or removal of a child from the UK), Specific Issue Orders (e.g. about going to a particular kind of school or giving medical treatment, including immunisation) and orders for Parental Responsibility.
Regarding international family law, we have barristers who regularly appear on either side of applications to temporarily or permanently remove children from the UK.
Children – public cases
We also offer barristers with considerable experience of what are sometimes known as ‘public’ children cases as they involve a public body rather than a dispute between two private individuals (usually the parents of a child). These include care proceedings – where a local authority has applied to take a child into care – in which our team represent parents, grandparents and other relatives, and children (both directly and through a guardian).
Whilst legal aid is usually available in this area, we regularly represent and advise those for whom it is not, especially relatives who wish to be involved in proceedings, such as grandparents.
Occupation and non-molestation orders
Members of our team are frequently instructed to represent clients who face violence or harassment in a domestic situation and seek the protection of the Court. This work involves applying for or resisting applications for non-molestation/occupation orders under the Family Law Act 1996. As a result, our barristers are particularly sensitive when representing victims of domestic abuse and are used to getting the best result for their clients during very difficult circumstances.
Court of Protection
The Court of Protection hears cases for people who cannot make decisions at the time they need to be made (where it is said they lack mental capacity). It can make decisions over such people’s property, financial affairs and personal welfare. Our barristers are used working in the crossover between the Court of Protection and family cases. For example, where a young person leaving care is said to lack capacity, where a family member has lost capacity through dementia and there is a family dispute, or for an urgent application regarding medical treatment.