Divorce can be a daunting prospect, especially if there are issues regarding finances, property, and arrangements for children to sort out. Naturally, most people faced with the prospect will want the assistance of a family law solicitor, to advise them and guide them through the process.
But what if they can’t afford a solicitor? Can they get legal aid to help them with the solicitor’s fees?
Until 2013 the answer to the question was simple: yes, you could get legal aid for divorce (and everything else connected to it), subject to your means.
Sadly, all that changed in April that year, when the government removed most private law family matters (i.e. matters not involving social services) from the scope of legal aid. As a result, the number of people accessing family legal aid was reduced by about 80 per cent.
The other effect of the change was that many family law solicitors gave up doing legal aid work, making it more difficult for people to find a legal aid lawyer, even for those few matters still covered by legal aid.
So what matters are still covered?
There are only really two main areas where legal aid is still available that are likely to be relevant to anyone going through divorce: in connection with mediation, and where there has been domestic abuse. (Legal aid may also be available in cases of child abduction, if your human rights are at risk, or if you’re at risk of homelessness.)
If you have issues regarding finances, property, and arrangements for children to sort out then you and your spouse may choose to go to family mediation, whereby a trained mediator will help you try to resolve matters by agreement.
Indeed, if you need to ask the court to sort these things out you will usually first have to attend a Mediation Information & Assessment Meeting (often referred to as a ‘MIAM’), at which your case will be assessed for its suitability for mediation.
But mediation isn’t free: the mediator will charge a fee for their services, which is usually shared between the parties.
When the government cut legal aid in 2013 it hoped that many of those people who could no longer get legal aid would take their cases to mediation, rather than go through the courts. Accordingly, the government decided that legal aid should remain available for mediation.
Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested. It is only available to those on a low income, or who are not working.
If you are eligible, legal aid will cover all of the costs of mediation, including all sessions with the mediator, the drawing up of an agreement by the mediator, and (if required) the cost of having a solicitor turn the agreement into a legally binding court order.
You may also be entitled to legal aid if you or your children have been the victim of domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse is defined to include physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse (i.e. behaviour that has a substantial adverse effect on a person’s ability to acquire, use, or maintain money or other property, or to obtain goods or services), and psychological, emotional or other abuse.
If you wish to apply to a court for a non-molestation or occupation order to protect yourself from domestic abuse then legal aid is available, subject to means.
And legal aid may also be available (again, subject to means) to cover other matters such as sorting out finances and arrangements for children, if you can provide specified evidence that you have been the victim of domestic abuse, for example evidence that the other party has been arrested in relation to a domestic violence offence, or a letter from your GP stating that they have examined you and found injuries consistent with you being a victim of domestic violence.
Discover more about our legal aid service. Alternatively, find out more about our family mediation services and information in relation to how our domestic abuse solicitors can support you.
Ian Walker Family Law & Mediation Solicitors are award-winning family solicitors and are recognised as one of the leading family law firms in the South West of England with services covering family law & mediation, divorce, child law, and arbitration. For expert advice, please contact the team.
We have one of the strongest child law teams in the South West, which includes 3 current and 2 lapsed Children Panel Members. There is between 80 – 100 years of children panel membership between our team!
We regularly receive instructions to act for children and as agents for a local authority.
We remain committed to Child Law Legal Aid work.
We are now looking to add to our team.
We are looking for an ambitious solicitor with ambitions to join our equity.
Person specification:
Genuine long term opportunities.
We have Lexsis PSL and Library
There are definite partnership opportunities for the right person.
Please send your CV and covering letter in confidence to Ian at [email protected]
Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors are now also Family Law Solicitors in Torquay
The last 18 months has been an exceptional period for Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors.
In this period, we have:
Whilst less visible, we have made changes to our website and to our procedures so that we have improved out transparency about legal pricing/charges and our systems to provide and outstanding service to our clients.
As part of these changes we have incorporated innovative technology into our website to assist new clients to better engage with us and to improve what we are able to provide at initial meeting. We have also introduced a pay as you go and wider fixed fee service.
The final step in this period of growth is the opening of our Torquay Family Law Office on the 03 June 2019.
Our Torquay Family Law Office is conveniently located in Lymington Road, at the Torquay Business Centre.
We selected this as a location because it is easily accessible from all parts of Torquay. Torquay Business Centre is a relatively short distance from Torquay County Court. It is also reasonably convenient for Torbay Council social services meetings at Union House.
We also have the benefit of being able to offer free parking (subject to availability and normally pre-booking) and good disabled access.
Our Torquay solicitors team will be led by Nicole Phare.
Nicole qualified as a specialist family law solicitor in 2005 and specialises in both children law and divorce.
Nicole enjoyed a long career in family law before qualifying as a solicitor and most of her career has been spent working for different practices in Torbay
Nicole will be supported in building our Torquay family law solicitors office by our director Ian Walker and highly experienced solicitors David Howell-Richardson and Sandy Powell.
Both Ian and Sandy have had careers which have included working for South Devon/Torquay practices and between us, we have assisted many Torbay families over the years.
We are conscious that over the years the number of solicitors firms who undertake complex children work in Torquay has significantly reduced.
Before we opened our Torquay solicitors office there were only two firms of solicitors with offices in Torquay which included members of the Law Society Children Panel and which still offer a legally aided service.
By opening an office in Torquay we have taken this number up to 3.
From our Torquay family law solicitors office we will be assisting clients both with children law and divorce.
We are a team of specialist divorce lawyers in Torquay. We will be offering a divorce service from our Torquay family law office.
At Ian Walker Family Law and Mediation Solicitors we are committed members of the family law solicitors organisation Resolution. Ian Walker is now in his third (three year) term as the elected chair of the Devon region of resolution. Ian is also a member of Resolution’s national Dispute Resolution Committee which promotes innovation and best practice in resolving family Law and divorce cases out of court. He has previously served as both a member of the Law Society Family Law Committee and as a trustee of the Family Mediators Association. One of Ian’s achievements was the introduction of collaborative family law in Devon.
We are committed to assisting our divorce clients to resolve their cases in a principled and fair way which focuses on achieving good outcomes but ensures that the needs of the couple’s children are not lost in (often unnecessary) adult disputes.
If you believe we can assist – please do get in touch.
In six and half years we have grown from nothing to being a leading family law solicitors practice and mediation service in the south-west.
We have achieved our growth through the innovative use of technology. Are use of technology is both client facing and also within the platform through which we work. We make good use of cloud technology. We use other innovative software and we subscribe to the best available family law practice support service.
We now have SRA authorised offices in Honiton, Exeter, Torquay and Weston-super-Mare as well as consulting rooms we access in Yeovil and Bridgwater.
Our team consists of both employed solicitors and fee share consultant’s.
Whilst on the one hand we intend to consolidate the advances we have made over the last 18 months, on the other hand, we are always open to new opportunities.
We are therefore ever open to hear from outstanding family lawyers who might be based in Devon and Somerset slightly further afield who are interested in joining an innovative, collegiate, noncorporate but highly professional and expert team. Our team has grown around its people and being open to new opportunities and if you share our vision and would like to join our journey then we would like to hear from you. (Equity opportunities are available). Join our Family Law Solicitors in Torquay.
We know that Christmas is not a happy time that everyone. Indeed it can be very lonely and depressing. Some parents are for various reasons unable to spend time with their children on the main days of the Christmas holiday or even at all.
In the run-up to Christmas we deal with a surge in cases where separated parents are in dispute over the arrangements through which children will spend time with each parent over the Christmas holiday. Here are some hopefully helpful thoughts.
Children don’t want to see the adults around them arguing. Children want to enjoy everything that is going on. They will quite naturally want to see all of the important adults in their lives if possible. If they are taking part in a school play or similar performance children will normally want this to be watched by their important family members. Most importantly of all (again) children do not want to witness arguments; children wants to have fun and be happy.
If it has not been possible to agree arrangements for children to spend time with the adults who they do not live with during the year, then it is unlikely that there are going to be any significant changes agreed for the Christmas period. Equally, if the amount of time that the non-resident parent spends with their child is quite limited, then it is unlikely that it is going to be agreed that they can have loads ofadditional time over the Christmas holiday. Anyadditional time that can be agreed is likely to be along the lines of what is already taking place. Asking for more than is realistic will probably be counter-productive and will only lead to arguments.
If separated parents cannot get on with each other normally, then it is unrealistic to expect significant change over Christmas. Moving between one parent and another can be very stressful for children as well as for their parents. Sometimes the situation can be improved if a family member or friend can on a regular or even specific occasionassist with the move between one parent and the other.
The best time to discuss the arrangements for Christmas is in the spring of the year before. This allows ample time to undertake mediation. If agreements cannot be reached then an application would need to be made to the Court. Securing court time is not always easy and if there is a dispute over the Christmas arrangements, if an application is made to the court in the middle of December it is unlikely that the case will be able to get before a Judge in such a way that decisions can properly be made. The later a court application is left before Christmas, the less likely it is that a satisfactory outcome will be achieved
Courts make decisions based upon evidence. If an agreement has been reached between parents and it can be proven that an agreement existed then the starting point of the Court is likely to be based upon making the parents keep to their agreements (unless there is a good reason for change)rather than starting completely from scratch
Some parents sadly do not see their children or have their time with their children restricted because there are issues about safety. Examples of this can be where there has been domestic abuse or even abusive or unsafe behaviour involving the children. Sometimes the parent with whom the child lives places the question of safety to one side in order to try to be nice to the other for Christmas or because they want to give their children what they think their children want. Risks are unlikely to diminish simply because it is Christmas and if a parent places themselves or their children in an unsafe situation then they could be unfortunate consequences both with some problem arising and also with the possibility that social services could become involved with the family because of concerns over a parents failure to protect.
The best arrangements for children are ones where their parents are able to communicate well with each other and where both parents have confidence that the other will deliver their side of the agreement. The best arrangements are where parents are able to trust each other. Unless there is a significant safety issue the best way to achieve the best arrangements is through the parents talking to each other and finding a way to put past difficulties behind them. Mediation can be an excellent forum for achieving this. The starting point to a successful mediation is both parents accepting that there is a problem that needs to be resolved and both wishing to do something to resolve the problem.
Where advice is required it is always a good idea to do this as soon as it becomes clear that the problem will not easily be solved. In our experience problems do not easily go away if nothing is done to try and solve them. Reasonable arrangements for children over the Christmas period often include Christmas Day being shared or children spending Christmas with one family one year and with another the next. However, all situations are different. Getting specific legal advice is usually a good idea.
We are a Firm of Solicitors specialising in family law and a mediation service that is based in Honiton in East Devon. We also have branch offices in Taunton. Our mediation service is contracted with the legal aid agency to offer legally aided mediation in Honiton Exeter and Taunton. If you qualify for legal aid for mediation then the mediation will be free of charge.We are members of the family solicitors organisation Resolution. Ian Walker is currently the elected chair of the Devon region Of Resolution
We are contracted with the Legal Aid Agency to provide legal advice and legal representation to those who qualify for Legal Aid. (We also have a Legal Aid Contract for family mediation).
Most of our legally aided cases involve social services or child arrangements or assisting clients who have been subjected to domestic abuse. We have obtained some good results for clients since we opened.
For example, we successfully assisted a parent who had lost a previous child to adoption, to be given a fair opportunity to show that she could parent her new baby. The outcome of the case was that she was allowed to keep her baby in her care.
In another case we required a local authority to respect the rights of learning disabled parents.In a complex case, we ensured that our client received a fair hearing and that all issues were properly considered.
We successfully assisted another parent to keep her child in her care despite a determined application by the Local Authority to have the child placed in long-term foster care.
We successfully assisted a mother to secure the return of her daughter from the care of her estranged parents. The child had gone to live with the parents during a difficult time in the mother’s life. That has since passed and the Court was satisfied that it was in the child’s best interests to live with our client and also with their sibling.
We assisted a mother to obtain a Protective Injunction against her former partner who had persistently harassed her. He then left her alone.
A requirement of our Legal Aid Contract is that we hold the Specialist Quality Mark. This is a Quality Standard – which is independently audited – which requires us to operate with identifiable written processes which ensure that we are able to provide a quality service to clients.
The Specialist Quality Mark was originally granted to us in 2013 – during our first year of trading. The Quality Mark needs to be renewed every three years. At the beginning of August we were re-audited. (more…)
In the last of months I have successfully mediated a couple of cases where the answer to this was starkly illustrated.
In the first case, the couple had instructed solicitors from London and the South East. The couple had assets of several million pounds, including a number of properties and other investments. In less than 12 months they had between them accumulated legal costs exceeding £20,000.
In the second case, the couple had significantly less resources, but in a period of six years since separating they had accumulated between them legal costs of in excess of £25,000.
No financial agreement had been reached in either case. No applications had been made to the Court asking for a Financial Orders either. There had been a lot of letters written. Financial documents had been exchanged and in one case there had been a meeting between each client with their Solicitors; but no agreement.
As a solicitor, my philosophy is always to explore whether a case can be resolved quickly and amicably. If this is not possible then an application should be made to the Court. Negotiations can continue, but if there is no agreement, the Court will make a decision. I seek to avoid drift. When the final agreement/order is achieved there is finality and the costs stop.
But Mediation is quicker than a Court process. In the above mediation cases we found a solution to all outstanding issues in two and three joint meetings. All four of my clients were very pleased with the outcomes and these were completed for a fraction of the costs they had already incurred, and for a fraction of their likely costs should be cases have proceeded to Court. (more…)
On 20 August 2014 the government published a document called “A brighter future for Family Justice”
This describes itself as “a round up of what’s happened since the Family Justice Review”
Here is a link to the full document which can be downloaded from the government website. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/346005/family-justice-review-update.pdf
There is not a lot that is new in this document, the publication of which, coincided with an announcement by the Minister Simon Hughes to make the first actual mediation session free of charge to both parties provided that one of them could prove they were eligible to receive legal aid. I published a post about that announcement yesterday which included a link to the relevant press release.
Amongst the data contained within the first part of “A brighter future for Family Justice” were statistics showing that real progress was being made in completing childcare cases if possible/normally/(unless there is an exceptional reason why not) within a 26 week period.
These type of cases routinely used to take over a year to complete. (more…)
Below is a press release from the Family Mediators Association/FMA on the subject of meeting with children as part of the mediation process. the FMA press release is in response to a recent change in government policy.
I myself, am a member of the FMA and served for a short spell on their board of governors. I also a mediator who is trained to meet with children as part of the mediation process. The training that I undertook to be able to do this was through the family solicitors organisation Resolution, but was led by Lisa Parkinson, who was one of the founders of the FMA and who is a very well-known and respected mediator.
As a solicitor, I have been a member of the Law Society Children Panel or Law Society Child Law Panel, as it is more correctly known these days, since 1996. This means that I have represented both children and parents in complex court cases brought by social services and involving every permutation of child safety issue that you could possibly think of, over a very long period. I am also accredited by resolution as an expert on domestic abuse.
I agree with the idea that where appropriate (more…)
Below is our forthcoming article in East Devon’s Midweek Herald Newspaper. I like the Midweek Herald which covers Honiton, Axminster, Seaton, Ottery St Mary, Beer and Sidmouth. I have been a regular reader since we moved to East Devon 15 years ago. I have reproduced the article in full.
April 2014 has seen big changes in how disputes between separating partners and about children should be dealt with. These include the introduction of a Unified Family Court; the abolition of Residence and Contact Orders (Child Arrangements Orders instead) and a greater expectation that couples should resolve their disputes out of Court with the assistance of a professional mediator.
It is now a Legal requirement that (more…)
When I switched on the radio this morning it was a pleasure to hear that the main headline on Radio Four was the arrival today of the Family Court. On Radio Five Live this momentous event was the second headline, behind speculation about David Moyes and Manchester United Football Club. Does speculation count as news these days?
The arrival of the Family Court, and other associated reforms, are a genuinely big deal.
As you know I am both a experienced and specialist Family Law Solicitor and an experienced Family Mediator. I have long advocated a greater use of mediation by separating couples or by parents when they encounter difficulties in the months and years after relationship breakdown. The use of mediation, in the right way, at the right time, can save each of the couple both a lot of money and a lot of stress. Where there are children, they are also saved from having to put up with seemingly never-ending conflict, anger and resentment between their parents. I routinely refer my legal clients to mediation and support them through the process, and the system to make the best use of family mediation. (more…)
