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Our highly experienced team of family law experts can help you to resolve your difficulties quickly and discreetly with the least possible damage to ongoing relationships.
Quick search the Family & Matrimonial services:
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& Ince, in any case
Our family teams based in London and Cardiff represent a range of local, national and international clients, who are experiencing family issues. Both our London team, known as Gordon Dadds & Ince*, and Cardiff team are adept at providing succinct, practical and robust advice tailored to you and your family’s needs.
Our lawyers have a wide breadth and depth of expertise and offer a holistic and strategic approach to your individual case.
Working together with our Private Wealth team, we are also able to advise on a range of wealth management issues to plan for your future.
Divorce and relationship breakdown
When a relationship breaks down, you need someone you can trust to help you to make sense of things and to deal constructively with what is important to you. We are highly experienced in addressing the issues that matter, and will work with you to resolve the difficult personal and financial issues that will inevitably flow from the end of a relationship.
Child welfare
Sadly, disputes over the arrangements for children will often arise in the context of separation or divorce. The welfare of children is always the paramount consideration – for our team and the family court. Where possible, we will ensure we protect your child or children from lengthy disputes and look to use one of the various alternative methods of dispute resolution, which will often be more effective and less polarising than court proceedings.
We also offer representation in care proceedings, acting for both parents, and children through their court-appointed guardian.
Surrogacy and adoption
Our unique surrogacy service advises and assists surrogates or the intended parents through the entire surrogacy process and includes UK and international arrangements. Once the child is born, we can also represent surrogates or the intended parents through the court process to obtain parental orders.
Marriage and cohabitation agreements
Getting married or living with someone are exciting junctures in life. Whether you decide to marry or to cohabit, it is important to protect yourself and your financial position as much as possible in case that relationship ends.
Our non-exhaustive list of family services:
- Divorce
- Financial remedies
- Pre and post-nuptial agreements
- Children law private and public proceedings (care proceedings)
- Co-habitation disputes and agreements
- Surrogacy and adoption
- Child maintenance
- Domestic abuse
- Alternative family structure relationships, including same-sex marriages and civil partnerships
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A global team with local strengths
- Office locations
- Global reach and expertise
News & insights on Family & Matrimonial
News / Relationships in 'Lockdown: Part Two'
04-11-2020 /
On the 29 October 2020, The Times ran an article titled “Can your relationship survive the second wave”. As Wales comes out of a “Firebreak” lockdown on 9 November 2020, and England starts a month-long lockdown from 5 November 2020 - this is a very timely question to ask.
Insights / Preventing a domestic violence pandemic
03-11-2020 /
Since March, we have all had to adjust to the new reality in the face of Coronavirus. Now with the second national lockdown on the horizon in England, a ‘fire breaker’ lockdown underway in Wales and tiered restrictions being imposed in Scotland, we will all again retreat to our homes in order to protect ourselves, the vulnerable and our NHS.
Insights / Sending my child to school… The dilemma for parents co-parenting during Covid-19
01-10-2020 /
As children attend school for the autumn term, for the first time since March 2020, schools across the UK are adopting measures to try and reduce the spread of coronavirus whilst allowing the return of all children to the school environment.
Insights / What is a "no-fault" divorce?
16-06-2020 /
The Bill which proposes to introduce “no-fault” divorces in England and Wales was backed by MPs earlier this week and it is possible that it will receive Royal assent within the next week.
Insights / Covid-19 and the implications regarding Childcare Arrangements
18-05-2020 /
In recent weeks family practitioners have had to deal with scenarios and situations which we hadn’t previously envisaged or had to consider. One parent stuck in lockdown on their own in one part of the country and the other with the children miles away, and grandparents and grandchildren not being able to see one another and share that special bond that exists. These are a few examples of the difficulties which separating families are having to endure.
News / Covid-19 and Financial Settlements – The consequences are known to be extreme
07-05-2020 /
We are living in the most unprecedented times. The world has been turned upside down, global stock markets have taken an incredible hit, many have found themselves either unemployed or on reduced salaries or with assets which as Richard Branson has told us have significantly reduced in value. All this is without a foreseeable end in sight.
News / Q&A: Why should you consider a co-habitation agreement?
24-04-2020 /
According to a statistic from STEP, more than three million couples in the UK choose to co-habit, rather than marry or enter a civil partnership. However, unmarried couples who live together have far fewer legal rights than couples who are married or in civil partnerships. The concept of the ‘common law’ spouse is just a myth and not recognised in the law. As a result, co-habiting couples who are in the process of separating cannot access the financial orders as separating spouse.
News / Managing Child Arrangements Amid COVID-19
24-03-2020 /
We are now having to face challenges nationally and globally which we never expected, and we are having to adapt very quickly to the significant impact of COVID-19 upon our daily lives. In this unprecedented time of uncertainty, it is normal to have worries about how to manage your household and your family arrangements, to abide by the government guidance whilst maintaining some degree of normality. As Cafcass (Court Welfare Advisory Service) have advised, in this climate of uncertainty it has never been more important to instill a sense of routine and normality for children in order to make them feel safe and secure.
News / Domestic Abuse
14-02-2020 /
It has been reported in the media that Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, hosted an event on Wednesday to highlight the invaluable work that the organization 'SafeLives' undertakes to support victims of Domestic Abuse.
News / The history of marriage
10-02-2020 /
It is widely agreed that the origin of marriage dates well before recorded history, but the earliest recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting one woman and one man dates from about 2350 B.C. in the Far East. Over the next several hundred years, marriage evolved into a widespread institution embraced by various cultures.
News / The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, the “evolution” of the legal process
05-02-2020 /
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill that brings in “no fault” applications to end married and registered civil partnership relationships comes before the House of Commons today for its second reading.
News / What Are The Legal Implications Surrounding Surrogacy?
29-01-2020 /
As many of the listeners of the Radio 4 soap, The Archers, will be aware, the characters Ian and Adam are navigating the issues surrounding the birth of their son Xander, through surrogacy. The story of Adam and Ian using the services of a surrogate unfolded during 2019, and in September 2019 their Son Xander was born.
News / Celebrating St Dwynwen’s Day: Then & Now
24-01-2020 /
25th January is St Dwynwen’s Day; which is celebrated in Wales in the same way as St Valentine’s Day is celebrated throughout the world, through the exchange of flowers and cards, romantic meals and special time spent by the couple together.
Blogs / Under control
29-01-2016 /
Emma Morris examines the powers of the courts to make civil restraint orders and the circumstances in which such an order may be appropriate.
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