Our Family team has many years of experience in Family Law. We balance care and understanding with the need for a constructive and positive approach.

Our wealth of legal knowledge, professional experience and personal skills enable us to provide a high quality service to those with family difficulties.

The solicitors in the department advise on a wide range of matters including high value and complex financial matters arising from relationship breakdown and divorce. We are often involved in cases in which the major asset is a family business including company and partnership assets.

We prepare “before the event” documents such as Prenuptial and Cohabitation Agreements and work with our colleagues in the firm’s Trusts and Estates team when advising on tax planning and asset protection strategies.

We also advise clients on children issues including residence, contact, relocation, change of name and adoption.

We can call upon the support of other disciplines within the firm as necessary on matters such as tax, pensions and property issues which may arise as part of a typical family case.

All of the solicitors in the Family department are members of Resolution. All members of Resolution adopt a code of practice committing them to the constructive resolution of family issues taking into account the needs of the family as a whole.

There are a number of solicitors in the Family team who are trained Collaborative Lawyers. In a Collaborative Law matter there are a series of round table meetings involving both parties and their lawyers. The purpose is to reach a mutually acceptable agreement to be embodied by the court in a binding order and to ensure that those who have chosen the Collaborative law route have greater control on their process. Collaborative Law clients seek to avoid Court intervention.

The team also has a Solicitor Advocate with higher rights in the civil courts meaning that in appropriate cases it is not necessary to instruct a barrister for court representation.

Chambers UK a clients guide to the UK legal profession 2008 describes Elizabeth Hassall Head of Department as "bright but formidable". Whilst Tricia Cottrell Head of Family in Liverpool is praised for her "technically sound" and "great no-nonsense approach" to high value financial matters.

Areas of Specialism / Expertise

Divorce

• The only ground for Divorce is that the parties marriage has "irretrievably broken down"
• The only ground can be proven by establishing one of the "five facts"
• There is only one absolute bar to presenting a Divorce Petition to any Divorce Court which is that a Petition cannot be presented to the Court until one year after the date of the marriage
• Either party to the Divorce proceedings can make an application to Court for financial matters to be dealt with

Judicial Separation

• Separation relieves the parties of the duty to cohabit
• The ‘facts’ for Judicial Separation are the same as the "five facts" in divorce
• Within Judicial Separation proceedings either party can make an application to Court for financial matters to be dealt with

Financial Ancillary Relief Claims

• This can be dealt with by direct agreement between the parties, via mediation, collaborative law, via voluntary disclosure of financial documents, or by application to the Court
• Either party to Judicial Separation or Divorce proceedings can apply to the Court for financial matters to be dealt with by them
• The Court has wide powers to deal with the parties assets, including: Ordering that property be sold, Ordering outright transfer of property to one spouse, Ordering pension shares etc

Cohabitation

• Contrary to popular belief there is no such thing as the "Common Law Marriage"
• Under current law, cohabitees are not offered the same protection as married couples or civil partners
• It can be extremely difficult for one party to prove that they have an interest in the others property, or indeed for one party to prove that the other does not have in interest in their property
• This difficulty can be alleviated by the preparation of a Declaration of Trust upon the purchase of any property, or by preparation of a Cohabitation Agreement prior to cohabitation beginning

Private Child Law

• The Child's welfare is the Court's paramount concern
• Once an application is issued the Court is not restricted in its powers and as such can make Orders other than those originally sought
• Orders can be made dealing with where the child should live and whom they should see

• Representation of non-parent family members
• The children are parties to the proceedings and will require their own solicitor
• The Children's welfare is the court's paramount concern

Adoption

• This area of law has changed in recent years
• Special guardianship may provide an alternative to adoption for long term care of a child by a non parent family member or third party.

No two families are alike. At Halliwells we provide advice tailored to your needs.

Contact us at
family@halliwells.com

Separation Solutions is a group of like-minded individuals, from different organisations in Manchester and Cheshire who believe that Collaborative Law is a better way to help families in distress. We are solicitors, accountants, IFAs, pension advisors, family consultants and life coaches, who have come together to pool our knowledge, share our experience, create new ideas, and spread the word about Collaborative Law. www.separationsolutions.co.uk