Family Law Solicitors in Eastbourne

Whether you are separating from your partner or need some advice about protecting your assets before you get married, our local Eastbourne family law solicitors can help.

A problem at home can make life very stressful and uncertain. While involving lawyers may feel like a big step, having the support of a legal professional who specialises in family law can make the process much easier to deal with.

Our family lawyers in Eastbourne are here to provide advice and support during difficult times. We offer a wide selection of services, including:

Divorce and separation
Civil partnership
Financial settlements
Child law
Child arrangements
Child maintenance
Parental responsibility
Grandparents’ rights
Cohabitation agreements
Pre-nuptial agreements
Post-nuptial agreements
Domestic abuse
Mediation
Court of Protection
Inheritance disputes
Power of attorney
Will writing

We take a constructive approach to help you reach a resolution as painlessly and cost-effectively as possible.

In most cases, we can resolve family law matters out of court using alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation, collaborative law, and arbitration. This avoids the need for hearings and is generally faster than litigation.

When you instruct our family lawyers, you can trust us to:

Explain all your options in plain, easy-to-understand English – so you can make the best decisions for you
Always be there for you when you need support – all you need to do is pick up the phone or drop a direct email to your personal family lawyer
Be upfront and honest about our costs – a detailed quote and certainty about our fees from start to finish. Contact us for advice about our family law fees

Get in touch with our friendly, experienced family law solicitors in Eastbourne

For a full range of family law advice, contact our solicitors in Eastbourne.

Or fill in our online enquiry form, and we will be in touch shortly.

Our family law services in Eastbourne

Divorce and separation

Our family solicitors can help you through divorce and relationship breakdown. We understand how stressful this time can be and how daunting it is to deal with issues such as co-parenting arrangements and the division of property and other assets.

We are here for you from start to finish. We can help you negotiate fair settlements with your ex-partner and ensure you can move on with your life feeling independent and financially secure.

Our service includes:

Advice about the legal processes of divorce and judicial separation
Drafting and filing the divorce petition or responding to an application filed by your ex-partner
Negotiating a separation agreement or drafting and filing a judicial separation petition
Negotiating financial matters, such as the division of money and property and sorting out spousal maintenance
Advice about children and co-parenting, including agreeing on residence and contact
Helping you, wherever appropriate, to access mediation

Find out more about our divorce, dissolution and separation services.

Civil partnership

We deal with a full range of civil partnership issues, from drafting and negotiating civil partnership agreements to dealing with the dissolution of a partnership.

Our family law specialists can advise you on the terms and conditions of a civil partnership agreement, ensuring that it is in your best interests to sign and checking that full financial disclosure has been made.

We also handle all legal aspects of partnership breakdown, including financial settlements and arrangements for children.

Financial settlements

A financial order is essential when you divorce or dissolve a civil partnership. Without this, your former partner could make a claim against you in the future, as divorce or dissolution does not end financial obligations.

Our family law experts can discuss your position with you and identify what is most important to you in dealing with the division of your assets. We will give you an assessment of what you could achieve and negotiate on your behalf to try to agree on a settlement out of court.

We can explore mediation where necessary, as you will usually be required to consider this before asking the court to intervene.

If you decide not to try mediation or it is unsuccessful, we will prepare the strongest possible case for hearing. In deciding on how to divide your assets and liabilities, the court will look at a range of issues, including:

The income, earning capacity and financial resources of both parties, both now and in the foreseeable future
Financial needs, obligations and responsibilities of each of you
The standard of living you enjoyed during the marriage
Each of your ages
The duration of the marriage
Any physical or mental disabilities either of you have
The contributions made by each of you during the marriage, including looking after the home and caring for children
Conduct, where it would be unfair not to consider this

Child law

Our expert team of solicitors dealing with family law are well experienced in child law matters.

If you and your child’s other parent disagree over certain actions, such as taking a child out of school, agreeing to medical treatment, changing their name, or relocating, we can give you the advice and representation you need.

Where it is not possible to resolve matters by way of negotiation or mediation, we can ask the court to make a specific issue order or a prohibited steps order, setting out what will happen.

Child arrangements

Supporting children through times of uncertainty is often the hardest part of relationship breakdown. Our children law solicitors can represent you in negotiating and agreeing on arrangements for children after a relationship breakdown. This will generally include:

Deciding who a child should live with most of the time (this used to be called custody, then residence)
Deciding how much time a child will spend with each parent (this used to be called access, then contact)

We can ask the court to approve and seal your agreement, making a binding child arrangements order that you can rely on in the future.

Where it is not possible to agree on matters out of court, we will put forward a case on your behalf, asking the court to set out arrangements for your child. We will ensure that you have the support you need throughout, and we will explain the process clearly to you, including the role of the Child and Family Courts Advisory and Support Service or Cafcass.

Find out more about our children law services.

Child maintenance

Where one parent has the majority of the day-to-day care of a child, the other parent will be required to pay them maintenance. We can advise you of the level of payment that is likely to be warranted and discuss using the Child Maintenance Service where necessary.

For high-income families, we can take action to secure more than the usual basic level of maintenance. For example, requesting top-up maintenance or asking the court for a school fees order.

Parental responsibility

Parental responsibility refers to the legal rights, duties and obligations that parents have in respect of their children. Birth mothers and fathers who are married to them or named on the birth certificate automatically have parental responsibility.

Other individuals, such as unmarried fathers who are not named on the birth certificate and step-parents, can enter into an agreement with the child’s mother to assume parental responsibility or, alternatively, ask the court for a parental responsibility order.

We can take you through the process of obtaining parental responsibility, which will give you the right to be consulted over major decisions relating to the child in question, such as which school they will attend, whether they will have medical treatment and overseas travel.

Grandparents’ rights

Although grandparents do not have an automatic right to contact with a grandchild, the courts recognise that grandparents can have a valuable role in a child’s life. The court will need to grant permission to apply for contact.

Our experienced family solicitors often represent grandparents, and we can discuss your situation with you and talk through your options. Where necessary, we can make an application to the court.

Cohabitation agreements

Many people choose to live together instead of marrying or entering into a civil partnership. However, unmarried couples and cohabitees do not have as much legal protection as spouses and civil partners.

Our family lawyers in Eastbourne provide cohabitation advice for those who are planning to move in together or who already live together about protecting their interests. Our service includes helping you negotiate and make a cohabitation agreement (or living together agreement) to set out how you want to sort out financial matters and arrangements for your children if you separate.

We can also resolve cohabitation disputes, including property disagreements and claims, under the Trusts of the Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, also known as TOLATA.

Find out more about our cohabitation services.

Pre-nuptial agreements and post-nuptial agreements

A pre-nuptial agreement (also known as a pre-marital agreement) allows you to protect your financial interests when entering into a marriage or civil partnership.

Pre-nups can reduce the risk of disputes and misunderstandings, setting out how issues will be dealt with both during the relationship and should it end. If your marriage were to end, having a pre-nuptial agreement can mean that a divorce is quicker and more cost-effective, as the courts will closely consider its terms when dealing with financial matters.

Our local family law solicitors can provide advice about entering into a pre-nuptial agreement. We will ensure that your agreement is fair and fully protects your interests. Where necessary, we will help you negotiate with your partner constructively so that you do not have to worry about the process causing your relationship unnecessary stress.

Post-nuptial agreements

For those already married, a post-nuptial agreement is a similar option. It can include issues such as:

Who will be responsible for debts and outgoings during the marriage
What will happen to property should you separate
How other assets will be split, such as investments, inherited money and pensions
Who will be liable for debts
What provision will be made for children

Find out more about our pre-nup and post-nup services.

Domestic abuse

We can help you if you are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse. Our Family Law team are all ambassadors for the Women’s Aid ‘Ask Me’ movement. We are here to listen to you, ensure that you can access the support you need, and provide a warm, welcoming and safe environment.

Our services include providing advice about seeking protective court orders, including:

Non-molestation orders preventing someone from contacting you or approaching you
Occupation orders, giving details of who can live in your home

We know how difficult it can be to deal with an abusive situation, whether this is physical, emotional or another type of abuse. If you ask us to help you, we can take immediate steps to protect you and your children.

Please note that we cannot accept legal aid for providing our advice and support.

Find out more about our domestic abuse services.

Mediation

Wherever possible, the courts prefer that couples deal with matters between themselves, without the need for litigation. We can work with you and your former partner’s solicitor to try and negotiate an acceptable outcome, but if this is not possible, the next step is usually to consider mediation. An exception is when domestic abuse has occurred.

We can arrange for you to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting or MIAM, where a mediator will explain the mediation process to you and discuss the ways in which it might help.

If you decide to go ahead with mediation, we can provide you with advice and support, as well as ensuring that any agreement is sealed by the court, so that you have a binding order that you can rely upon for the future.

Court of Protection

If you have a relative who has become unable to manage their own affairs, the Court of Protection can appoint you as the individual’s deputy. This will give you the authority to handle certain matters for them. The court order will specify exactly what you can do on their behalf. It could relate to their property and financial affairs, or you can ask for an order allowing you to make decisions relating to their health and welfare.

We can deal with the application for a deputyship order on your behalf, ensuring it is accompanied by the necessary evidence in support. We also provide ongoing advice to deputies in respect of compliance and annual reporting.

Inheritance disputes

We have a strong contentious probate team that deals with a wide range of inheritance disputes. Whether you believe that a Will is invalid, you are concerned about the way an estate is being administered, or you have been left out of a Will and want to claim financial support, we can provide you with expert advice and representation.

We will assess the strength of your case and discuss your options. We are often able to negotiate out-of-court settlements, as executors can be keen to resolve disputes to avoid delays in the administration process. If you need to speak to one of our contentious probate solicitors, call us today, and we will be happy to help.

For more information on our services, see our contentious probate solicitors page.

Power of Attorney

A Power of Attorney gives someone the authority to deal with certain affairs on your behalf. A Lasting Power of Attorney can be put in place in case someone loses the mental capacity to make their own decisions in the future.

We can advise you on the right type of Power of Attorney for your circumstances and draft the document for signature. If you are making a Lasting Power of Attorney, we will register this with the Office of the Public Guardian so that it is ready, should it ever be needed.

Will writing

It is important to have a valid Will in place, particularly when major life events occur, including getting married, having children, blending two families or the breakdown of a relationship. Our Wills solicitors can help you decide how you want to pass on your estate and ensure that your assets are protected for the next generation.

We will make sure that your estate is structured in the most efficient way possible and that your chosen beneficiaries will benefit fully when the time comes.

For more information, see our estate planning page.