Family Law

When a family goes wrong everything you thought of as yours (your partner, children, home, pension, car) can be put at risk. You may assume that your case will have to go to court and that a judge will decide your future. But what will happen? How much will it cost? You can feel scared, helpless and angry, all at the same time. All of a sudden you can find yourself in a war zone with family and friends taking sides.

They may well tell you to get a "good" lawyer to fight your corner because in order not to lose you need to "win". "Good" often means aggressive, expensive and just a little bit frightening - we know the common image of family lawyers.

We know that no one every truly "wins" a family law case. A bad divorce can leave lasting scars for the whole family.

We are here to make what will be one of the most difficult times of your life easier - by helping you to maintain as much control as possible over the end result.

We will give you clear legal advice in plain English.
we will always recognise that, as our client, you are in charge of your own case and we will only do what is agreed with you.

We will give you clear information about whether you are eligible for Legal Aid and how much your case is likely to cost.

We will advise you about other services which may help you get through this difficult time.

We will always try to get you an outcome you can live with with the minimum of conflict and expense.

Our family law team is the largest in the North East. We are all members of Resolution which promotes a constructive and conciliatory approach to resolving family problems - over 90% of cases involving solicitors who are members of Resolution settle without Court battles.

Because of the size of our team and our range of expertise we can advise you whether you are well off or hard up and we have specialists covering all aspects of family law:

• Divorce and separation
• Financial settlements.
• Pre-marital agreements.
• Separation agreements.
• Arrangements for children whose parents have separated.
• Domestic abuse.
• Harassment.
• Emergency freezing of assets.
• Cohabitation disputes.
• Child Support.
• Inheritance Act claims.
• Human Rights Act issues.
• Social Services involvement with children
• Child Abduction
• Civil Partnerships

We have 1 Family Law Panel member, 4 Resolution accredited specialists, 5 members of the Law Society Children Panel and a Higher Rights Advocate.

To find out more about the team follow the links.