Family Law

Howards Solicitors offers sensitive and skilled advice on a wide range of family law issues for clients in different types of relationships and at different stages of their lives.

Should you find yourself in the following situations please get in touch to see how our family lawyers can help.

Moving in together

If you are considering moving in with your partner, it is worthwhile considering your rights and responsibilities right from the start.

Even cases of sharing a property with a friend or relative should be addressed to ensure your interests are protected.

Many people live with their partners in common law marriages and feel they are offered financial security in such relationships. Unfortunately a lot of people discover too late that this is often not the case.  These arrangements entitle partners to little or no legal protection such as automatic property rights.

If you are sharing a property, cohabitation agreements can help safeguard your rights to the home, should you split-up.

Tying the knot

If you are entering a marriage and civil partnerships it might be worth considering a prenuptial agreement.

Prenuptials are increasingly popular ways of protecting assets should a relationship break down.  Recent cases show that the courts regard such contracts with increasing weight in deciding how assets are divided.

So if you are bringing valuable commodities such as a family home or business, perhaps a substantial inheritance in the future, to a relationship then a prenuptial agreement is worth seriously considering.

Things change in relationships over time, postnuptial agreements are another option to safeguard assets once a marriage or civil partnership has begun.

At Howards we can offer advice on both arrangements.

When a relationship breaks down

Divorce or separation is a difficult time.  It can also be very costly.

The Government has recognised that mediation and collaborative family law approaches can reduce the heartache, stress and costs associated with going to court to seek a divorce settlement.

From April 2011 divorcing couples will be obliged to seek counselling before they are allowed to go to court.

Howards is able to help arrange and guide clients in the process.

Should differences prove too great and cannot be resolved by counselling, then Howards can offer skilled representation in court.

Children

Separation can be particularly difficult where children are involved.  Our divorce lawyers can advise on issues including custody and support of children, working with the Child Support (CSA), residence, contact and parental responsibility

Howards offers family law advice and representation on a private client basis only although Legal Aid is available for many of our other services.