Calulker & Co
Solicitors
020 8801 9020
020 8801 9020
Family Law as the name implies deals with issues that are very personal and can affect related family members. Such matters affecting these relationships need to be handled carefully and with empathy.
Family matters cover matters like divorce, matters in relation to children and finances any other type of cases involving the family or a relationship. In all situations, we believe our client needs to be placed in very capable hands and all situations handled delicately. We have expertise in all aspects of Family Law and can advise and act for in such matters. We have competitive rates.
We give our undivided attention to your matter and work towards resolving your issues most efficiently. This may be by negotiation, mediation or reconciliation, or by an application to the court.
In matters like a breakdown in your marriage or relationship or domestic abuse, financial arrangement, child arrangement, and other Family Law matters, we can give professional and effective advice. We years of experience we can effectively deal with and sort out family disputes and, try to avoid litigation and seek resolution first. However, if this fails, we are prepared to bring court proceedings if this is the best way to achieve the desired outcome in your case.
We can assist in getting a divorce and can represent you. We can assist with financial settlement orders, dividing the of assets or financial assistance and support for any children involved.
You can get divorced in England or Wales if you’ve been married for over a year.
your relationship has permanently broken down and your marriage is legally recognised in the UK (including same-sex marriage)
If you do not want a divorce, you can get a legal separation so you can live apart without ending the marriage. You might also be able to annul the marriage. You can apply for separation or annulment during your first year of marriage.
Before you apply, we will enquire and advise you as to whether you want to make a joint application with your husband or wife or whether you want to apply on your own.
It normally takes at least 7 months to get a divorce. This is the same for joint and sole applications.
We can make a joint application with your husband or wife on your behalf if both of you both agree that you should get a divorce and you’re not at risk of domestic abuse.
You’ll both have to separately confirm that you want to continue with the divorce application at each stage of the process.
We can make a sole application on your
behalf if your husband or wife does not agree you should get a divorce or you do not think your husband or wife will cooperate or respond to notifications from the court.
If you need help paying the court fee, you may be able to get help with fees if you get benefits or are on a low income.
We can take you through the steps of applying for a divorce and explain to you the process and support and advice you through the process until you get your Final Order.
We can assist advise and represent you in making child arrangements for your children. You can choose how to make arrangements for looking after your children if you separate from your partner.
You and your ex-partner can usually avoid going to court hearings if you agree on:
We can assist you if you want to make your agreement legally binding.
You can agree on child maintenance at the same time or separately.
We can advise and assist you in agreeing on a Parenting Plan with your ex-partner. You can also use a mediator or get other help to reach an agreement. The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) can also assist and prepare a report. If you cannot agree on everything, we can apply to the court on your behalf to decide anything you cannot agree on after using a mediator or getting other help.
We will assist in setting up a mediation meeting for you unless there has been domestic abuse or social services are involved. As you must show that you’ve attended a meeting to see if mediation is right for you before applying to a court.
We can assist in drafting a consent order if you agree about child arrangements.
You can write down what you’ve agreed in a Parenting Plan if you want a record.
A consent order is a legal document that confirms your agreement. It can include details about how you’ll look after your children, such as:
You and your ex-partner both must sign the draft consent order. You’ll also need to get the consent order approved.
We can assist in applying to the court for a court order to get your consent order approved. A judge will approve your consent order to make it legally binding if they think you’ve made decisions in your children’s interest.
If the judge does not think your consent order is in your children’s interest they can:
change your consent order or make a different court order to decide what’s best for your children
You must usually attend a meeting about mediation before you apply for a court order. This is called a mediation information and assessment meeting (MIAM).
You do not need to attend a MIAM in certain cases, for example if there’s been domestic abuse or if you’re applying for a consent order.
We can assist in applying for any of the following Orders
It costs £255 to apply for a court order. You may be able to get help paying court fees if you’re on benefits or a low income.
If you want to change your application that the court is still considering it costs £184 if you want to change still want the court to decide your case through a court hearing and £58 if you and your ex-partner have agreed and you want the court to approve your consent order without a court hearing
Our fees are between £3000 to £6000. We may use barristers to attend court and there fees start from around £950 for short hearings to £1200 to £3,000 for a day or two hearings. We will let you know in advance their fees for any hearings. There are usually several hearings in family cases.
It can last anything from about 6 months to a year or more for Child Arrangement Orders, Financial Orders. Divorce last about 9 to 12 months.
Our hourly rate is £310 per hour and we do not currently charge vat for our professional fees but it may be applicable for barrister fees or other fees.
We will assist and prepare your case for a ‘directions hearing’ with both parents.
There will usually be a family court adviser from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) at the hearing.
Cafcass will send you information before the hearing - they’ll usually ring you too. We will advise and explain any reports to you and what needs to be narrowed down
At the hearing, a judge or magistrate will try to work out:
They’ll encourage you to reach an agreement if it’s in the child’s best interests. If you can, and there are no concerns about the child’s welfare, the judge or magistrate can end the process.
The court will make a consent order, which sets out what you’ve agreed to, if necessary.
If you cannot agree at the first court hearing
The judge or magistrate will set a timetable for what happens next.
They may ask you to try again to reach an agreement, for example, by going to a meeting with a mediator.
You may have to go on a course if your case is about child arrangements. The course is called a ‘Separated Parents Information Programme’ and can help you find a way to make child arrangements work.
You usually have to go to one or 2 meetings, depending on the type of programme. Your ex-partner will not be at the same meetings as you.
The judge or magistrate can stop the process if you reach an agreement at any stage.
The court can ask Cafcass to provide a report on your case to help decide what’s best for the child.
The Cafcass officer may ask your child about their feelings. You will receive a copy of the report when it is written.
The judges and magistrates always put the welfare of children first. They will think about the:
A judge or magistrate will only make an order if they think it’s in the child’s best interests.
We will advise and assist you until you get a final Order. If the other parent fails to comply, you can apply for an enforcement order, which we can advise and assist with.
The Court fee is £255 for the application.
When you divorce or end a civil partnership you and your ex-partner need to agree how to separate your finances.
This includes deciding how you’re going to divide:
You might get a share of your partner’s pension - including State Pension or private pension plans, regular maintenance payments to help with children or living expenses. You can usually avoid going to court hearings if you agree how to split your money and property.
The rules are different if you were unmarried or in a civil partnership. You’ll still have to agree on child maintenance payments for any children.
We can advise, assist and represent you if you must go to court.
If you and your ex-partner agree on how to divide money and property, we can assist you in applying for a consent order to make it legally binding.
We can assist in setting up a meeting with a mediator or get other help to resolve issues out of court. If you cannot agree on everything, we can ask a court to make a financial order on your behalf.
It’s usually more straightforward and less expensive if you agree how to divide your money and property. To make your agreement legally binding we can assist in drafting a consent order and ask a court to approve it. If your agreement is not legally binding, a court cannot enforce it if there are any issues later.
A consent order is a legal document that confirms your agreement. It explains how you’re going to divide up assets like pensions, property, savings and investments.
It can also include arrangements for maintenance payments, including child maintenance.
We can ask the court to approve your draft consent order when you apply for your divorce or dissolution, or at any time after that. It’s usually simpler to ask for approval after you have your conditional order or decree nisi – the court cannot approve a consent order before this. The consent order will only take effect after you get your final order or decree absolute.
We will fill in a notice of an application for a financial order.
There’s usually no court hearing. A judge will approve your consent order to make it legally binding if they think it’s fair. If they do not think it’s fair, they can ask you to change it. The court fee is £58 for a consent order.
How much it costs for a Financial Order
Our fees are £301 per hour and the hours vary between 10 -20 hours in consented cases to 30 -50 hours in uncontested cases. There may be barristers’ fees to pay for hearings which range from £1200 for short hearing to £2400-£4800 for 1 to 2 days hearings. We will notify you in advance of any such hearings and the fees. How much you pay in total depends on how many financial dispute resolution appointments you need and if there will be a final hearing.
It can take between 12 to 18 months or more for a Final Financial Orders to be made. We will update you and inform you of the process from start to finish.
We can assist in arranging A mediator who can help you and your ex-partner agree on how to split money and property, without taking sides.
Mediation is not relationship counselling. It can help you agree on how you’ll divide your assets, including, pensions, property, savings and investments. Mediation can be quicker and cheaper than asking a court to decide for you.
You need to attend a mediation information assessment meeting (MIAM) before you start mediation.
A MIAM is usually about £120. If you need more mediation sessions, they cost more and fees vary depending on where you live.
If you want a legally binding agreement we can draft a consent order and get a court to approve it. The consent order can be based on what you agreed in mediation.
If you and your ex-partner cannot agree how to divide your finances you can ask a court to make a financial order (also known as the ‘contested’ route or an ‘ancillary relief order’).
This means the court will decide how assets will be split. Getting the court to decide usually takes longer and is more expensive than if you and your ex-partner agree.
You must attend a meeting about mediation before you can apply to the court to decide - except in certain cases (if there’s been domestic abuse, for example).
A financial order will describe how you’re going to divide up assets like: pensions,
Property, savings and investments. It can also include arrangements for maintenance payments, including child maintenance.
We can apply for a financial order on your behalf when you apply for your divorce or dissolution, or at any time after that.
It’s usually simpler to apply after you have your conditional order or decree nisi – the court typically cannot make a financial order before this
before you get your final order or decree absolute – if you apply after this, there may be financial consequences, particularly for pensions
The financial order will only take effect after you get your final order or decree absolute.
We will assist to fill in a financial order application form (Form A).
There are three stages:
The court will send you and your ex-partner details when the first appointment is taking place. This is usually 12 to 14 weeks after you apply. If we are representing you they will notify us instead,
Before the first appointment
We will assist you in completing a financial statement for a financial order (Form E) that shows a breakdown of your property and debts. This includes giving an estimate of your future living costs. Your ex-partner will also need to complete one.
You’ll also need to collect documents about your finances, for example:
How long it takes will depend on:
If you cannot agree, a judge will decide how assets will be split. They’ll base their decision on how long you’ve been married or in a civil partnership, as well as your:
The judge will decide on the fairest way to divide the assets if there’s enough to meet everyone’s needs. They will make arrangements for any children first - especially their housing arrangements and child maintenance. The reason for the divorce or dissolution is not taken into account.
The judge will usually try to arrange a ‘clean break’ so that everything is shared and you no longer have any financial ties to one another.
Maintenance payments
The court sometimes tells the person with the higher income to make regular maintenance payments to help with the other person’s living costs.
This is called a ‘maintenance order’.
A maintenance payment can be set for:
The payment can also be changed if one of you loses your job or gets much better-paid work.
Child maintenance
The court can also decide on child maintenance, often arranged by the Child Maintenance Service.
