Family Law Blog : Family law

There are various stages to the divorce process in England and Wales. Regardless of whether you are making a sole or joint application, you will always need to apply to the courts for a Conditional Order (formerly referred to as a Decree Nisi). A conditional order is a stage in…

A final order, also known as a decree absolute, is a legal document that officially ends a marriage. You can apply for it six weeks and one day after the conditional order is obtained, but you must do it within 12 months to prevent delays and the need to provide…

This is going to seem unromantic but, the reality is, marriage is a legal arrangement. The wedding is where you have the lovely dress, friends and family celebrating, big cake, first dance and the rest of it, but marriage is a legally binding contract. What changes legally when you get…

Whilst the law for divorce is becoming much clearer in offering no fault divorce from 6th April 2022, the financial implications of divorce still remain a complex area of law to navigate. And given the ease with which a couple will be able to apply for a divorce under the…

Too few divorcing parents consider how they will continue their relationship with each other after a divorce. Now I know this sounds a bit odd. Surely they are divorcing because they don’t want a relationship? True, but the reality is that if they have children, they will most likely have…

You’ve made the difficult decision to end your marriage and want to speak to a divorce lawyer. You may be nervous about the first call with your divorce lawyer or simply not know where to start. This blog will help you prepare and make the most of the conversation with…

As a family law solicitor, I have many frustrations; solicitors on the other side who don’t return my calls, the inability to secure a preferred barrister for a hearing because they are already booked and even the odd client who doesn’t take my advice and hinders their case. The most…

This blog explores the alternatives you might consider when resolving disagreements during the divorce process. In any divorce there are often seriously difficult issues to resolve between the parties, so what are the sort of methods we can use as lawyers to help with that and to reach a resolution?…

This blog was written prior to the change in law in April 2022 which introduced no fault divorce. For advice on your personal circumstances take advantage of a free telephone appointment with one of our lawyers – book here. Since the beginning of 2020 there’s been a lot of media…

New figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) last week revealed a surprise 10 per cent drop in the divorce rate in England and Wales. I say surprise, because it was a surprise to us as we have seen no significant drop off in cases in the last year….

Part of the challenge we face as family lawyers is demystifying the process and dealing with the jargon that besets the legal profession and court process. A recent discussion in the office resulted in a challenge to come up with a dictionary of family law terms, essentially an A-Z of…

I was interested to read the recent article in The Times (Lawyers should stop treating mediation as a tickbox exercise) claiming divorce lawyers should stop treating mediation as a tick box exercise. In my opinion, we don’t, never have and never will. Helping people through a divorce should be a…