1. Bartons Solicitors, Kingsbridge, Totnes and Salcome, Devon
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Our family department advises on:
Divorce
Cohabitation
Financial
Children
Adoption
Instant communication means a shrinking world. Location is no longer a prerequisite of delivering quality personal service.
Bartons is an eclectic mix of International Specialists and Westcountry Lawyers delivering a quality service to clients both locally and across the world.
Established as a Law firm in 1897 in Salcombe, Bartons has attracted a team of high calibre legal professionals united by a common goal - to provide an unparalleled legal service working from offices in one of the most beautiful parts of England. |
| http://www.bartons.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [10.00] Votes:
[1] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 2. Ashfords Solicitors
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Our family team advises and represents clients in all types of family matters including divorce, co-habitee disputes, children and financial disputes.
?Ancillary relief? is the expression used by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to describe the orders a court can make to resolve financial issues between parties to divorce or judicial separation proceedings. These orders include:
property transfer orders, i.e. transferring title to property to one or other of the other or the parties.
lump sum orders, i.e. requiring one party to pay the other a capital sum.
periodical payments, i.e. maintenance. Usually this will be from spouse to the other. The courts have only very limited jurisdiction to order payment of maintenance in respect of a child as being principally the function of the Child Support Agency.
pension transfer orders, i.e. splitting the sum of the pension fund to one party and putting it into a pension fund for the other.
Our firm was established following the demerger of Bevan Ashford?s two separate practices on 31 October 2004 and embodies the Exeter, Plymouth, London (Northumberland Avenue), Taunton, Tiverton and Bristol (Temple Quay) offices.
Ashfords' South West origins go back to the 19th Century and we still act for many long established firms and families in the region together with an ever growing list of clients across the UK and abroad. |
| http://www.ashfords.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [10.00] Votes:
[1] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 3. Chilcotts Solicitors, Tavistock, Devon
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With marriage breakdown affecting one in three households, it is important to consult a solicitor who is able to deal with the numerous complex issues involved in an understanding manner.
Breakdown of marriage leaves the parties vulnerable and confused. It is therefore vital that the solicitor you choose has the experience and vision from the outset to advise you on the goals to be achieved and that you are able to place your trust in your solicitor's ability.
The practice can be traced back over 150 years when Edward Chilcott and his son were involved during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The modern practice developed in the 1950's and 1960's under the then senior partner John Barker. He was the driving force behind the probate, wills and conveyancing side of the practice.
The present partners have continued to expand the practice to provide services required by its clients in an ever changing society. They intend to continue to offer all our clients, both existing and future, as high a standard of service as possible. |
| http://www.chilcotts.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [10.00] Votes:
[2] 6 Mar 2006 |
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4. Ford Simey
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Divorce, separation and who looks after the children are daunting problems. It's at times like these when the advice of an independent professional is best sought.
Ford Simey Solicitors are highly trained specialists who can objectively advise on what's best for you and your dependents.
They are approachable individuals who understand the need to give you time to explain your side of the argument and then offer sound advice and guidance in terms you can easily understand.
We cover all aspects of Family Law including divorce and separation, domestic violence, inheritance disputes, child adoption, abduction and care proceedings.
The Firm you now know as Ford Simey can trace its roots back more than 250 years to when John Ford established a legal practice in Exeter in 1750. For the first two centuries his practice, like many other great traditional English professions, developed along family lines; largely through his sons and nephews.
However, moving rapidly along the historic timeline to the last 50 years, the Firm has expanded and developed with partners and staff joining from all geographical areas - nationwide and international.
The Ford Simey of today is a result of the fusion of several prominent Exeter Law Firms; business partnerships and marriages that have helped develop Ford Simey into a single, strong, authoritative and flourishing business serving the whole of the westcountry.
Whilst technology and the demands of today's legal business are fast-changing, Ford Simey remains at the forefront as one of Devon's most respected Law Firms. Perhaps surprisingly to some, our business ethic remains the same today as it was back in 1750.
We aim to provide our clients with accurate, reliable and practical legal advice, taking into account individual needs and circumstances. We provide a personal service to our Clients in a competent, courteous and caring manner. |
| http://www.fordsimey.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [1.00] Votes:
[1] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 5. Foot Anstey Solicitors
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Our Family Finance Team is a specialist unit dealing with the financial repercussions of marriage and relationship breakdown.
Complex questions arise following divorce and separation. This is particularly true when business partnerships are affected.
Comprehensive advice is available on disputes and all financial aspects of relationship breakdown.
All members of the Team are well known in the south west for their experience and expertise in the following areas:
Advising on the financial repercussions of divorce
Tax implications
Pension implications
Pre Nuptial Agreements
Cohabitation Contracts
Separation Agreements
Resolving financial disputes between unmarried partners.
Maintaining the highest standards of client care is our top priority. We aim to be approachable in everything we do, helping you with a personal understanding that helps develop trust and confidence. We have an ongoing commitment to develop the quality of our services, and our client services team is always available to discuss any problems that may arise. We welcome feedback from you as your comments not only help us improve the individual service we provide to you, they also help us improve our service in general. |
| http://www.foot-ansteys.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [0.00] Votes:
[0] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 6. Bedfords Solicitors UK - Online Legal Services
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I founded Bedfords in 1996 with the aim of providing innovative services to clients at affordable prices. We are a small practice based in North Devon dealing with customers and clients Nationwide. With the aid of technology we have been able to cut out the bureaucracy, administrative cost and delay often associated with the more traditional practice and bring a fresh approach to legal problems.
Our philosophy is simple:
to provide legal services of excellent quality at a fair price;
to be transparent, open and up front about costs;
to make it as easy and convenient as possible for people to obtain legal help.
The idea of an online law shop is borne out of this philosophy. We are all familiar with purchasing goods and services in relation to most areas of our daily lives - why not legal help? It is perfectly understandable that we want to know in advance the exact cost of something we are thinking of buying, yet for so long clients have been offered only hourly rates. Whilst such time-costing is certainly appropriate in some cases it does often leave clients very much in the dark about their potential liabilities and can of course lead to problems.
We adopt a sensitive, conciliatory and constructive approach to the resolution of family disputes whilst making every effort to ensure that the position of our client is protected.
Our general family service covers:
relationship breakdown
divorce procedure
separation agreements
children matters
financial and property disputes
cohabitation & parental responsibility |
| http://www.bedfords.net/ |
| Rating: [0.00] Votes:
[0] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 7. Stephens & Scown Solicitors ..
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We have expertise in all issues relating to financial settlements on divorce and relationship breakdown. We work closely with other professional advisers to provide a complete service to clients.
Our team includes members of the Law Society's Children Panel; Family Law Panel and Family Mediation Panel; Association of Lawyers for Children and the Solicitors Family Law Association.
Two of our Partners are Solicitors Family Law Association accredited specialists.
Stephens & Scown has changed and grown dramatically since it first started business in St Austell in 1936. Many of the senior staff have practised in London before relocating to Stephens & Scown. Our lawyers have expertise in a wide range of legal work. Our principal growth and strength is built on our strong commercial base, we deal regularly with clients and projects both nationally and internationally from our West Country offices. |
| http://www.stephens-scown.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [0.00] Votes:
[0] 6 Mar 2006 |
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8. Gowmans
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Our experienced team of practioners concentrate on finding practical solutions when a divorce or separation is inevitable. We advise on all aspects including children, finacial matters, pensions and residence contact and care proceedings.
The Firm was established in the 1920s as a branch office of a Torquay firm known as P.H.Smith and Co. The original Partners in the Firm were Herbert Gowman and Thomas Edwin Easterbrook and it subsequently became known as Gowmans Easterbrook Smith and Co., and later Gowman Easterbrook and Co.
The Firm had offices in Palace Avenue, Paignton, and later in Victiroa Street. However, in 1931 the Firm moved to 65 Hyde Road and in 1948 63 Hyde Road was bought and the two premises amalgamated. |
| http://www.gowmans.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [5.50] Votes:
[2] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 9. Stones Solicitors, Devon
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Stones combines compassion and common sense to help you through the trauma of family legal issues. The firm has a strong team with skills and experience in handling all aspects of divorce, cohabitation and separation, including both finances (including high net worth cases), children issues, and domestic violence. We also have a team devoted to both public and private law children's matters, dealing with care and supervision proceedings, adoption and wardship, and all issues relating to private disputes regarding children.
We are committed to solving, not creating or inflaming problems, and we draw upon many years of experience in dealing with these sensitive areas of Law.
We have members of both The Law Society Children Panel and the Law Society Family Panel, and the firm holds a Family Law Franchise with the Legal Services Commission enabling us to handle publicly funded work. We are members of the Solicitors Family Law Association, and work to their code of conduct.
The firm supports mediation and has staff qualified as mediators. Mediation is a means of enabling couples to resolve the issues arising from separation and divorce, and may involve any issues including arrangements for children, financial support, housing and property.
We aim : to achieve growth and success through the provision of first class legal services, of a standard and quality which is perceived by clients to exceed their expectations and which is seen to offer good value for money. |
| http://www.stones-solicitors.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [10.00] Votes:
[1] 6 Mar 2006 |
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| 10. Karen O'Neill - Family Law Solicitors, Newton Abbot
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Karen O?Neill & Co is a modern law firm in Newton Abbot Devon that specialises exclusively in the field of Family Law.
Sole Principal, Karen O?Neill, is one of only a few solicitors in the South West accredited as a specialist by Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association) ? a group dedicated to the solution of family problems by negotiation rather than confrontation.
We are specialists in Family Law which essentially covers:
Divorce
Financial Settlements
Separation
Children
People who live or have lived together
Because we make efficient use of technology, we can offer competitive hourly rates as well as fixed costs review limits and an easy monthly payment facility so that payments can be spread over the duration of the case. Unfortunately, we cannot offer assistance under the public funding scheme (formerly Legal Aid).
The most difficult part of a divorce is often not the procedure that takes a couple from being married to being not married, but the emotional and financial consequences ? especially if there are children.
The rules for deciding what happens with property and finances on divorce are laid down in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and the Court looks at a large number of factors when considering a case brought before it. Because going to Court is never cheap, it is obviously better if the couple concerned can sort out as much as they can before seeing a solicitor, or seeking the help of the Court to sort out the financial side of a divorce (known as ?ancillary relief? in technical jargon).
The approach the Courts tend to take is to start at the point of who needs what - mainly a home to live in. The Court does not punish the person who caused the breakdown of the marriage by allowing them less financially, unless that person's conduct is extreme. If there is enough to provide each party with a home, then the court will look at who paid what in. With a long marriage - generally over five years - the Court will tend to say that contributions are equal. Short marriages are a bit different as there is often less opportunity for the parties to become financially dependent on each other. If there are children under 18 years of age, then that can also affect a division, but the court seeks to ensure that the final arrangements are fair to each party ? fair not necessarily meaning ?equal?.
Once those arrangements are in place, the Court is duty bound to consider a "clean break" so that neither party can go back to the other, or the other's estate if they die, and make any further claims. Obviously, it is better if the parties can agree most or all of the arrangements, and the Court then only has to approve the final agreement to make a "Clean Break Court Order".
Where the parties agree that there should be ongoing financial commitments to each other ? e.g. maintenance to the other party (as separate from children?s maintenance) ? then there is cannot be a Clean Break Order as such. However, the other variables can still be resolved, limiting the opportunity for the finances to be brought up again and ?re-opened? at a later date.
If the parties cannot decide between themselves, then Court proceedings are likely, which will use up some of the value of the matrimonial "pot" of assets. It is, therefore, much better if the parties can agree the terms between them, although it is not always easy, and in some cases, impossible.
The practical starting point for division in most matrimonial cases is half each. This can then be slanted either way by adding in factors such as what each party needs to rehouse, what contributions each party has made, where the children are going to live etc. Generally, now there is more emphasis on Child Maintenance, the non-residential parent's contributions tend to be by way of maintenance rather than paying it all in one lump sum ("capitalisation"). So where possible, the parent with the children will not get "extra" capital because the children are with him or her. Even if that does happen ? e.g. because s/he needs all the assets to buy another home - it is not necessarily forever; s/he will have to pay the other party back at some point - usually when the children are 18 or leave full time education.
The Courts treat non-financial contributions ? such as looking after children and the home ? as equal to the financial contributions of a ?breadwinner?. This is why pensions and other assets are still considered to be joint assets after a long marriage, rather than just the property of the person in whose name the pension or other asset is held.
Before an application for ancillary relief can be made to the Court, divorce proceedings have to be underway, and the Court cannot make any final orders until the Decree Nisi stage has been reached. Interim orders can be made, but are limited effectively to temporary maintenance until a final decision can be made. The Courts have a strict schedule for dealing with ancillary relief cases, which is intended to prevent cases dragging on for years, so it is not necessarily a lengthy process, although it can be a costly one.
Every case is different and there are huge variations in circumstances between cases, so it is important to seek advice at a fairly early stage to reduce the possibility of prejudicing the case as well as to improve the possibilities for settling without the need for a Court application.
Because there are so many considerations, and the attitudes of the individuals concerned is also significant, there can be no fixed costs guidelines as such. However, if the finances are simple ? say a property and some savings ? and the parties are mostly in agreement in principal ? then the costs of negotiating, preparing and submitting a Clean Break Order by consent should be no more than ?500. Where there are many documents to look at, difficulties in obtaining details of assets, or lots of points in dispute, then the eventual costs might be nearer to ?1,500.
For a fully contested case, i.e. where one or many issues are in dispute, and the Court has to fix a final hearing date, the costs can extend higher as clearly there is more time involved in dealing with the case, as well as Court fees. Costs can then reach ?5,000 to ?10,000 or more, but fortunately such cases are the exception rather than the rule. |
| http://www.karenoneill.co.uk/ |
| Rating: [0.00] Votes:
[0] 6 Mar 2006 |
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