Divorce & Family Law Solicitors in Guildford

Opening hours: Monday – Friday 9am – 5.30pm

Our family law services in Guildford

Our family law expertise includes:

• Divorce
• Civil partnership dissolution
• Relationship breakdown and separation
• Cohabitation agreements (also known as living together agreements)
• Financial settlements
• Pre-nuptial agreements
• Pre-civil partnership agreements
• Children law
• LGBT+ family law
• Adoption, surrogacy and artificial insemination
• International divorce
• Domestic violence
• Family dispute resolution (including mediation & collaborative law)
• Family court proceedings

Divorce solicitors and civil partnership dissolution solicitors

Divorce and dissolution marks the end of your relationship and life as you have known it for many years, but it also marks the start of your new, independent life.

Our friendly and experienced divorce solicitors in Guildford are here to help you embrace your future with confidence. We can help you through all the legal aspects of divorce and dissolution with minimal stress, including:

• Filing the divorce or dissolution application
• Helping you work out a divorce financial settlement to divide your money and property fairly
• Working out arrangements for children, including residence and contact
• Agreeing spousal maintenance
• Working out child maintenance

Our Family team have helped so many families over the years from all walks of like, with our expertise including LGBT+ divorce, international divorce, military and army divorce and high net worth divorce and dissolution.

We are pioneers in ‘no-fault divorce’ which is a new, positive approach to divorce and civil partnership dissolution. We focus on helping couples find solutions to separation issues based on cooperation and compromise rather than placing blame for relationship breakdown.

Separation solicitors

Divorce and dissolution is a very final step that takes a lot of thought. Our separation solicitors in Guildford can provide practical advice about your options if you want to separate from your partner but cannot or do not want to officially end the relationship.

For example, you may choose to separate if:

• You have religious, cultural or personal reasons against divorce.
• You have been married for less than a year and cannot get a divorce yet.
• You simply have not decided whether to divorce or dissolution yet.

We can help you enter into a practical separation agreement or apply for a legal separation to:

• Separate your finances
• Make arrangements for childcare and co-parenting

Relationship breakdown and cohabitation solicitors

It is more common than ever before for couples to live together before they get married or enter into a civil partnership.

But remember that you do not have as many rights as married couples or civil partners. For example, you do not have a right to claim a share of your partner’s solely owned property if you break up, even if you have lived together for years and it is as much your home as theirs. There is no just thing as a common law marriage, so do not be caught out.

Our specialist cohabitation solicitors can help you take steps to protect yourself, including entering into a cohabitation agreement (also known as a living together agreement) to set out ‘who owns what’ and what should happen to your money and property if you ever break up. We know it is not the most romantic notion, but it could save you a lot of heartache later on.

We also help people who are going through break ups with their partner, including providing advice about dividing property, interpreting cohabitation agreements, making property claims and resolving issues involving children.

Financial settlements

Sorting out finances after you separate from your partner is essential to help you move on with your life feeling safe and financially secure. However, finances is also the aspect of divorce that tends to cause the most conflict.

Our divorce and finances solicitors in Guildford help people negotiate fair financial settlement and make financial claims.

Our expertise includes:

• Helping you agree a bespoke financial settlement that suits your individual needs
• Advice about pensions upon divorce and dissolution
• Advice about trusts upon divorce and dissolution
• Advice about companies upon divorce and dissolution
• Obtaining Freezing Orders and Injunctions where there is a risk that your partner is hiding or will hide assets
• Working with forensic accountants

Pre-nuptial agreement solicitors and pre-civil partnership agreement solicitors

Our friendly pre-nuptial agreement solicitors in Guildford can provide all the advice you need about protecting your assets and financial interests during your relationship.

Whether you have inheritance you want to keep separate from marital finances, you want to protect financial arrangements from a previous relationship, you own a company or any other reason, we are here for you.

Our expertise including preparing, reviewing and advising on all types of agreement, including:

• Pre-nuptial agreements
• Post-nuptial agreements
• Pre-civil partnership agreements
• Post-civil partnership agreements

Children law

Our children are our world, so when relationships break down or other problems arise, it can be extremely stressful and upsetting. Our children law solicitors in Guildford specialise in assisting families with a wide range of issues, finding positive solutions that work for you and put your children’s happiness and welfare first.

Our expertise includes:

• Making parenting plans after divorce, civil partnership dissolution or separation
• Agreeing child maintenance
• Applying for children-related court orders, such as:
  • Child Arrangements Orders
  • Specific Issue Orders
  • Prohibited Steps Orders
• Taking children out of the jurisdiction and international child law issues
• Advice about parental responsibility
• Advice about adoption, surrogacy and egg/sperm/embryo donation
• Grandparents’ rights
• Protecting children from domestic violence

LGBT+ family law

Every person has the right to love and be in a relationship with anyone they like. However, LGBT+ individuals and couples sometimes come into contact with unique legal issues that may not necessarily affect heterosexual, cisgender people.

Our friendly Guildford LGBT+ solicitors specialise in this area and our expertise includes:

• Same sex parenting
• LGBT+ divorce and civil partnership dissolution
• Adoption, surrogacy and egg/sperm/embryo donation
• Same sex pre-nuptial agreements

Adoption, surrogacy and fertility law

Our Guildford family law solicitors can provide friendly, practical advice about expanding your family using adoption, surrogacy, sperm, egg or embryo donation and any other kind of artificial insemination.

There are important legal factors to be taken into account when going through these processes, including making sure you acquire all the parental rights and responsibilities you need. We will handle all the legal aspects on your behalf so you can concentrate on welcoming your new addition to your family.

International divorce

Dissolutions and divorces involving international aspects can quickly become complicated. Our international divorce solicitors in Guildford specialise in this area and can help you find the right way forward. We help with a wide range of issues, such as:

• You live abroad but want UK law to apply to your divorce
• You and/or your partner are not UK nationals and/or you got married overseas
• There is international property involved
• International co-parenting issues, for example, if you or your partner want to take your child out of the country
• Child maintenance and spousal maintenance where one party lives overseas

Domestic violence

You have a right to feel safe and loved in your relationship and to not be hurt or scared by a partner or someone close to you. Domestic abuse affects people from all walks of life, regardless of age, sex or background.

Our Guildford domestic violence solicitors can help you seek legal protection from your abuser for you and your children. Our expertise includes:

• Advising on all types of domestic abuse, such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and tech abuse
• Obtaining Injunctions/Non-Molestation Orders
• Obtaining Occupation Orders
• Seeking protection from coercive control
• Protecting children from domestic violence

Family dispute resolution

Our Guildford family lawyers specialise in non-confrontational family law. This means we take all possible steps to help you sort out the problems affecting your family without going to court (wherever possible).

Avoiding court is usually faster, cheaper and less stressful for everyone involved. We use two main methods for doing this – family mediation and collaborative law.

Family mediation in Guildford

Our qualified mediators can help families work out positive solutions to a wide range of problems, from divorce financial matters to agreeing co-parenting arrangements.

The mediator’s role is to guide conversations between you and the other party, helping you explore the possible options, iron out snags and defuse conflict. They do not take sides or make a decision for you, so any agreement you make will be entirely down to you.

Collaborative law in Guildford

Like mediation, our collaborative lawyers are specially trained to help families come to out-of-court agreements about a wide range of family law issues. Unlike mediation, collaborative lawyers provide you will legal advice and negotiate with the other party on your behalf so can be helpful to sort out more complex problems.

Family court proceedings

Our team also have experience helping people make family court applications where out-of-court agreement is not possible.

Our expertise includes helping people make urgent or emergency applications or assist people facing legal action for family law issues. For example, if your ex-partner has applied for a Child Arrangements Order.

Why choose Crisp & Co’s family lawyers in Guildford

• At Crisp & Co in Guildford, we only do family law. This means that our family solicitors are specialists at what we do.
• Many of our Guildford family lawyers are members of Resolution, a network of legal professionals who specialise in helping families find positive out-of-court solutions to their problems.
• We are accredited by the Law Society in Family Law Advanced which is a quality marker for firms that specialise in complex, disputed and high value family law issues.
• We are also accredited by the Law Society in Lexcel, which is the practice quality mark for firms that demonstrate the highest standards of client care, compliance and legal practice management.

Get in touch with our family solicitors in Guildford

Book an appointment with our family lawyers in Guildford now by calling us on 0203 909 0120, emailing info@crispandco.com or filling in our simple online enquiry form.