If your marriage has irretrievably broken down you may wish to commence divorce proceedings. We will offer advice on facts you can rely on to issue such proceedings including unreasonable behaviour, two years separation with consent, adultery, five years separation and desertion.

It is essential to try and reach an agreement on the division of your family assets and to embody such agreement in a court order within divorce proceedings. If this is not done then either party can resurrect financial issues in the future even against each other’s estate after death.

Matters affecting children can be highly sensitive as well as complex. Children related problems can arise upon separation/divorce but also upon the death of a parent or where social services have become involved.

We offer special expertise in this area including contact, residence, parental responsibility and other related issues. If matters cannot be settled outside of court then advice will be offered in relation to issuing court proceedings under the Children Act 1989 and the role of CAFCASS should such proceedings take place.

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force on 5th December 2005. The Act gives same sex couples the opportunity to register their relationship and thereby acquire rights and responsibilities almost entirely analogous to those of married couples.

We offer advice on the benefits of registration of a same sex relationship.

We also offer advice and assistance when such a relationship breaks down irretrievably. At this stage “dissolution proceedings” can be issued and financial matters considered to determine how the assets are to be divided.

Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as a “common law marriage”. It is a complete myth that after cohabitees have lived together for more than 6 months then automatically all assets are shared equally.

Unlike the position upon divorce or the breakdown of a civil partnership, upon the breakdown of the relationship between cohabitees there is no coherent statutory machinery to adjust financial and property rights. When such relationships break down the applicable legal principles are mainly found in complex trust and property law.

We offer advice on your rights regarding property, monies and belongings.

Separating can be an immensely difficult and emotional time for all concerned and inevitably there will be a number of issues that will need to be resolved.

The Collaborative Law process is a relatively new way of dealing with family disputes that resolves issues by face to face meetings between the parties and their legal advisors rather than through the more traditional approach of negotiations by letter and telephone.

The aim of Collaborative Law is to achieve a fair and time effective solution where the parties have felt more involved in the process and this in turn helps to reduce conflict and stress.

All types of family matters including issues arising from separation or divorce, financial matters and disputes involving children can be resolved using the Collaborative Law process.

Marriage is probably going to be the most important contractual decision of your life and yet people give very scant regard to any of its terms and conditions. It must be remembered that people generally enter into marriage on a wave of emotional buoyancy and any thought of a pre-nuptial agreement is the last thing on the agenda.

It has often been considered in the past that agreements made in contemplation of marriage were totally unenforceable in English law. The reason for this was that such an agreement (a pre-nup) was perceived to be an attempt to oust the jurisdiction of the courts and so be against public policy. However times are changing.

We can offer advice in relation to the importance of a pre-nup (made prior to marriage) or a post-nup (made after marriage) and thereafter draft the necessary documents.

English law does not recognise cohabitation as a defined legal status. As yet very few rights exist for cohabitants however in practice increasing numbers of the population live together without marrying.

The problems they face on relationship breakdown are often similar to those faced by couples who have married. The lack of a single statute to deal with cohabitants can make the task of resolving the problems very complex.

It appears likely that the law will change in this area in some respects but in the meantime cohabitants should try and put their relationship on a proper legal footing by entering into a cohabitation or living together agreement. This will reduce the acrimony and litigation in the event of a breakdown in the relationship.

We can offer advice and assistance as to the importance of entering into such an agreement and draft the document required to record the same.

If you wish to change your name or your child’s name a legal document is often required by authorities as proof of such name change.

We offer advice and assistance in this area and will draft such documents on your behalf which will be acceptable to all financial and other institutions including the passport office.