Case 1

Mr Smith had a two year old son to his former girlfriend. She was refusing Mr Smith anything other than supervised Contact for an hour at a time at her home. Mediation broke down and did not result in an Agreement.

We issued proceedings on behalf of Mr Smith who was granted a Parental Responsibility Order by the Court to enable him to have a say in his son’s upbringing including education and medical treatment. His son now spends each weekend with him and stays overnight.

Case 2

Mrs Chandler had been trapped in a violent marriage for a number of years with her two children. After repeated verbal and physical abuse she sought advice and an Order was obtained from the Court to provide for her personal protection which included an Order that the husband was not able to return to the family home thus enabling Mrs Chandler to begin a new life with her children.

Case 3

Miss Harry was cohabiting with her partner who had become increasingly unreasonable as the relationship was breaking down. Miss Harry wished to try and alleviate the situation without having to attend at Court to obtain an Order. Miss Harry sought advice on the options available to her.

A warning letter written to her cohabitee resulted in an improvement in his behaviour. At the same time Miss Harry was able to apply to the Local Authority to be re-housed with her children and to leave the relationship.

Case 4

Mrs Thompson and her husband separated some years ago. The matrimonial home was a large property with a large amount of attached land. Mr Thompson did not wish to sell the property and was not prepared to offer any substantial sum to Mrs Thompson in settlement of her interest. Mrs Thompson sought a value of the land and rather than proceed to force the sale of the property, as she could have done, she instructed us to secure an alternative settlement.

By way of a creative application to the Court we were able to secure an Order which provided for a division of the ownership of the land and a capital payment to Mrs Thompson which enabled her to renovate derelict buildings on the land to create a home for herself and a property which she was able to sell to realise a substantial capital sum, resulting in a more than satisfactory outcome for Mrs Thompson.

Case 5

Mr and Mrs Anderson separated when Mr Anderson left the matrimonial home, leaving Mrs Anderson and the two children in occupation. Mr Anderson wanted the house sold to recover what he considered to be his “half share”. On the basis of our advice Mrs Anderson resisted that Application.

When the matter first came before the Court it was immediately apparent that the Judge was supportive of the position adopted on behalf of Mrs Anderson. This caused Mr Anderson to reduce his demands, resulting in Mrs Anderson being able to pay him a relatively small sum in return for which the property was transferred into her sole name, providing her and the children with security of accommodation for the future.

Case 6

Mr Johnson, a well remunerated businessman, consulted us after having paid maintenance to his former wife under the terms of a Court Order. Mrs Johnson had sought to extend the Order to a lifetime Maintenance Order on the basis that she was unable to obtain sufficiently well paid work to maintain herself without the maintenance.

On behalf of Mr Andrews we were able to persuade the Court that the appropriate outcome was for a fixed term Order to expire in two years time, prohibiting Mrs Johnson from applying for any further extension. Mr Johnson felt that he had “paid his dues” and it was for Mrs Johnson to readjust to the reality of “life after Divorce”. The Court agreed, hence the imposition of an end date upon the Order, allowing Mr Johnson to order his life knowing that there was an end date in sight.

Case 7

We acted on behalf of Mr Bennet whose relationship with his girlfriend Miss Cornell had broken down. Mr Bennet had moved out of the house which they owned in their joint names. Miss Cornell refused to agree to the house being sold. She chose to remain in occupation and failed to pay the Mortgage. From an early stage it was clear that Miss Cornell was unwilling to negotiate. As a result, upon our advice, our client issued Court proceedings and secured an Order for the sale of the property.

Miss Cornell still refused to co-operate and we had to take the matter back to Court for enforcement of the Order. We secured control of the sale which then proceeded. The proceeds were then divided in our client’s favour, after an accounting exercise before a Judge which saw our client receive credit for the vast majority of the payments which he had made since separation. We also secured an Order that Miss Cornell pay a significant sum towards our client’s costs as a result of her default in the proceedings. Mr Bennet was more than happy with the outcome.

Case 8

Our client Mrs Foster was obliged to leave the matrimonial home with her children as a result of violence and threats of violence towards her by her husband. He refused to vacate the property. Upon our Application to the court on Mrs Foster’s behalf we secured an Order requiring Mr Z to leave the property, allowing our client and the children to return to live in the property free from fear of further violence at the hands of Mr Foster.

Case 9

After a relatively short marriage Mr & Mrs Jones separated. The house in which they had been living had been bought with the benefit of a Mortgage and a substantial deposit paid by Mrs Jones from monies which she had received upon the sale of a property in which she had lived with her first husband.

In the face of stern opposition from the husband Court proceedings were concluded with the Judge agreeing that Mrs Jones should receive credit for virtually the entire sum which she had brought into the relationship. That, plus a substantially greater than 50% share of the balance proceeds placed her in a position where she was able to purchase suitable alternative accommodation for herself and the children.

Case 10

Mr Andrews' girlfriend decided upon their separation, that she was leaving the country and taking the children with her. Mr Andrews agreed that the children would be better off living with her. Unfortunately however, Mr Andrews was unable to reach an agreement with Miss Fornel regarding arrangements for contact with the children.

We explained to Mr Andrews that he did not have Parental Responsibility for the children by virtue of the fact that he was not married to their mother. Acting upon our advice an urgent application was made to the Court to prevent the removal of the children from the country until such time as a full agreement had been reached regarding Contact which was then incorporated into a binding, enforceable Court Order.

We also secured an Order for Parental Responsibility in favour of Mr Andrews giving him legal rights and responsibilities for the children which he would not otherwise have had. Miss Fornel was then able to leave the country with the children as Mr Andrews was now satisfied with the terms of the Contact Order.

Case 11

By virtue of our membership of the Law Society’s Children Panel we regularly act in Child Care cases on behalf of the children who are the subject of the case, as well as parents, and indeed Grandparents.

Outcomes have varied from cases where children have been successfully placed for adoption where their parents have been unable to cope with them to Orders rescinding original Care Orders on the basis that the circumstances of the parents had improved to such an extent that the Local Authority agreed that that was the appropriate outcome.

It is always our aim to ensure that the view of our clients are fully aired before the Court, ensuring everyone’s right to a full and fair hearing is not overlooked.