Relationship breakdown and family law

When a relationship changes, you may be facing difficult decisions about your family, finances and future. Whether you are considering separation or divorce, resolving financial arrangements or worried about the impact on your children, clear advice can help you move forward with greater confidence.

Our specialist family law team provides sensitive, practical advice shaped around you and your circumstances. With particular expertise in complex and high value scenarios, the team takes time to understand what matters to you and works towards the best possible outcomes that provide certainty and clarity for the future.

Divorce and separation

Separating from a partner can bring emotional, practical and financial uncertainty. Understanding your position, your options and what needs to happen next can make that uncertainty more manageable.

Our team advises married couples and civil partners on divorce and dissolution, as well as unmarried couples following separation. Depending on your circumstances, advice may cover the following areas.

• Financial arrangements can be addressed alongside the wider implications of your separation.
• Property, pensions, investments, business interests and other assets can be considered as part of the overall financial picture.
• Business interests can require particular care and experience when determining how assets should be treated.
• Trusts, inherited wealth, farms and landed estates can raise additional considerations that need specialist advice.

The focus is not simply on completing the legal process. It is on understanding your priorities and helping you reach an outcome that provides as much certainty and security as possible.

Financial arrangements following divorce or separation

Reaching a suitable financial settlement can be one of the most challenging aspects of relationship breakdown, particularly where substantial or complex assets are involved.

Our senior led team regularly advises high net worth individuals where financial arrangements involve businesses, property portfolios, pensions, trusts, investments, agricultural assets or family wealth.

These matters can involve much more than family law. Where appropriate, our family lawyers work closely with specialists within the firm in tax, trusts, property, corporate law and agriculture and landed estates, as well as trusted external advisers. This joined-up approach helps ensure that the wider financial, tax and commercial consequences of a separation are considered alongside the immediate legal issues.

The law governing financial arrangements on divorce continues to be the subject of review and discussion about potential reform. Our team keeps developments under review while providing clear advice based on the law as it applies to your circumstances.

Planning and protecting your position

Family law advice is not only needed when a relationship ends. Putting clear arrangements in place earlier can help couples understand their respective positions, protect important assets and reduce uncertainty in the future.

Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements

Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements can provide greater clarity about financial arrangements and how particular assets should be treated if circumstances change.

They can be particularly relevant where you own a business, have accumulated significant assets prior to your relationship, expect to receive, or have received, an inheritance, have interests in family wealth or trusts, or have children from an earlier relationship.

Our family lawyers advise on the preparation, negotiation and review of agreements, approaching potentially sensitive conversations constructively while ensuring that your circumstances and priorities are properly understood.

Cohabitation agreements

Couples who live together do not currently have the same legal rights as married couples or civil partners. A cohabitation agreement can provide greater certainty by recording how property and other assets are owned, how financial commitments will be managed and what should happen if the relationship ends.

Where an unmarried relationship has ended, our team can also advise on property and financial interests and the options available to you.

The rights of cohabiting couples continue to be the subject of calls for reform. Until the law changes, understanding your legal position and putting appropriate arrangements in place can be particularly important.

Finding the right way forward 

Resolving a family law matter does not necessarily mean going to court. The right approach will depend on your circumstances, the issues involved and what you want to achieve.

Where appropriate, our team can help you explore negotiation, collaborative law, arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. The team includes accredited collaborative lawyers and qualified mediators, bringing practical insight into different ways of resolving family disputes.

The aim is to find an approach that supports a constructive and workable resolution while avoiding unnecessary conflict where possible. If court proceedings are required, you will have robust support, expert representation and clear advice throughout.

Talk to our family law team

Whether you are planning ahead, considering separation or already dealing with a complex family law issue, early advice can help you understand your position and make informed decisions about what happens next.

Talk to our specialist family law team for a confidential, no obligation initial conversation about your circumstances and the options available to you.