Family Law Services
With offices across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, including Lincoln, Grimsby and Hull, our professional and caring solicitors can help.
Family Law Solicitors
The breakdown of a relationship or a dispute involving your family can be an incredibly difficult and uncertain time. At Bridge McFarland LLP, our experienced family law solicitors provide clear, practical advice to help you understand your options and decide on the best way forward.
Our family lawyers advise individuals and families across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire on a wide range of family law matters, from divorce and separation to arrangements for children, financial settlements and domestic abuse.
We understand that every family and relationship is different. Our approach is therefore tailored to your individual circumstances, with the aim of resolving matters constructively and reducing unnecessary conflict wherever possible.
How Our Family Law Solicitors Can Help
Our specialist family law team provides advice across four key areas:
We can support you through all stages of a relationship breakdown or family dispute.
If you are separating, we can advise on divorce, including no-fault and high-net-worth divorce, civil partnership dissolution and the options available to unmarried couples who are separating. We can also help couples plan ahead or formalise their arrangements through cohabitation agreements, separation agreements, declarations of trust and pre- or post-nuptial agreements.
Where children are involved, our family solicitors can help you reach appropriate arrangements concerning where children live, the time they spend with each parent and financial support. We also advise on Child Arrangement Orders, child maintenance, parenting plans, grandparents’ rights, Special Guardianship Orders and issues surrounding taking children abroad. For more complex circumstances, our team can provide advice on applications under Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 and whether legal aid may be available.
Financial arrangements can often be one of the most important aspects of a separation. We can advise on how finances and assets may be divided following divorce, including property, savings, investments and pensions. Where more substantial or complex assets are involved, our solicitors can also assist with matters such as business interests and other financial resources.
Our family law team can also provide confidential and sensitive advice where domestic abuse is a concern. We can explain the legal options and protections that may be available and help you take appropriate steps to protect yourself and your family.
Finding the Right Way Forward
Not every family law matter needs to result in court proceedings. Wherever possible, we will work with you to find a constructive solution that reflects your circumstances and priorities.
We can offer a Collaborative Law service to help resolve matters through Alternative Dispute Resolution rather than the court process. Mediation can also help separating couples discuss their circumstances and work towards an agreement with the assistance of an independent mediator.
Where an agreement cannot be reached, or where alternative approaches are not suitable, our experienced family solicitors can advise and represent you throughout court proceedings.
Whatever your circumstances, we will explain your options clearly so that you can make informed decisions about your future.
Experienced Family Lawyers in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire
Our family law solicitors combine specialist legal knowledge with a practical and supportive approach. We recognise that seeking advice about a family matter can be daunting, particularly when decisions need to be made about your children, home or financial future.
By taking the time to understand what matters to you, we can provide advice tailored to your circumstances and support you from your first conversation through to the conclusion of your matter.
Our family law team assists clients across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire from our network of local offices.
Speak to Our Family Law Solicitors
If you need advice about divorce, separation, children, finances, domestic abuse or another family law matter, our experienced solicitors are here to help.
Contact your local Bridge McFarland LLP office, call 0800 987 8800 or email enquiries@bmcf.co.uk to discuss your circumstances with a member of our family law team.
Other Legal Services
We can also provide specialist legal advice on other areas of law that may be relevant when dealing with a divorce or separation, such as Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, Estate Management, and Conveyancing.
Family Law Frequently Asked Questions
No, we are only able to act for one party in the proceedings.
No, financial issues are not resolved automatically, but it is something that we recommend you look into at the time of the divorce/civil partnership dissolution, and we can provide advice about that.
A divorce or civil partnership dissolution will generally take between 5 and 7 months. This however may not be the case if there are complicating factors that need to be taken into consideration, for example personal service of papers, or where one party is out of the country.
A simple divorce/civil partnership dissolution will generally cost around £600 (excluding VAT) plus court fees which are presently £612. The costs will increase if there are issues relating to children or financial matters.
They can have persuasive legal status, as long as certain steps have been taken and there have been no significant alterations to either party’s circumstances.
Yes, you can apply for a Judicial Separation, which is the same procedure as for divorce/dissolution petition, and enables you to resolve financial issues, with you still remaining married/in a civil partnership at the end, or if terms are agreed they can be embodied in a Separation Agreement.
This will depend on whether there are children of the relationship, and what assets have been accrued jointly between the two of you.
When considering financial matters, there are a variety of factors that need to be taken into account, such as length of relationship, children and contributions.
The general rule of thumb is that with a long relationship, the starting point will be a 50/50 split of assets, and with a short relationship the parties will be put back into the position they were in prior to the marriage. We would stress that this is not the case all of the time, and each case revolves on its own merits and facts. To enable us to advise you fully we would need financial disclosure from both parties.
There is only one ground for divorce and that is irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. Only one party has to be satisfied there has been an irretrievable breakdown and it is no longer the case that there has to be a specific reason.
Collaborative law is where both parties instruct their own individual collaborative lawyer to deal with matters on their behalf.
Matters are dealt with by way of face to face four way meetings, so that each party has the benefit of support and legal advice from their solicitor all the time. The parties will sign an agreement with their lawyers at the start of the process, confirming that they will all work to resolving the issue without the need for Court proceedings and prevents the solicitors from representing either party at Court. This is to prove to the parties that the solicitors are committed in resolving the issues on behalf of their clients.
Mediation is the opportunity for you and your spouse/civil partner to meet together with an independent Mediator who will not advise either of you on the legal issues but will assist you both in trying to reach a settlement.
Parental Responsibility is defined as all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and their property. In reality, it gives the parent responsibility for taking all the important decisions in the child’s life, including education, religion and medical care.
If you are the absent parent, the view of the Court is that it is the child(ren)’s right to have as full a relationship as possible with both parents so long as there is no risk of harm to the child, whether physical or emotional.
If the divorce/civil partnership dissolution is straight forward there is usually no need to attend Court, however, Court appointments can be listed if there additional factors such as financial or children matters.
Family Law Services
Divorce & Civil Partnership Dissolution
Finances on Divorce and Separation
Co-habitation
Childcare & Children Solicitors
Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements
Family Law Services
Divorce & Civil Partnership Dissolution
Finances on Divorce and Separation
Co-habitation
Childcare & Children Solicitors
Prenuptial & Pre-partnership Agreements
Family Law Services
Divorce & Civil Partnership Dissolution
Finances on Divorce & Separation
Co-habition
Childcare & Children Solicitors
Pre-nuptial &
Pre-partnership Agreements
Our Family Services Team
Our Family Law Team
What our clients say
Get in Touch
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