The expert partners at Cambridge Family Law Practice offer a wide range of options for resolving family disputes
Contact us for an initial chat about how we can help you.
Advice
One of the priorities when a relationship changes should be to gather information about where you stand and what could – or should – happen next. CFLP’s partners can tell you how the law is likely to apply in your particular circumstances, and how a court would be likely to approach a potential dispute in your case. We can advise not only on the law, but also about the different available processes for trying to resolve a dispute, and on the best way of trying to achieve your preferred end result.
Negotiation
The traditional way of working through a family law dispute is to negotiate in correspondence or on the telephone with the other person’s solicitor. Round-table meetings, when both people and their solicitors address the issues together, can also be useful in terms of making progress.
We have good relationships with other family law solicitors and our style is to negotiate constructively, politely and assertively to ensure the best outcome for you. As members of Resolution, we are committed to a non-confrontational approach that bears in mind the long-term impact of family relationship breakdowns, particularly where children are involved.
One Lawyer
Two of our Partners, Jeremy Ford and Adam Moghadas, offer a further option for seeking to resolve a family law dispute, be it related to children or finances. This entails one of them providing joint advice on an impartial basis. Adam or Jeremy will be able to give an impartial, expert assessment of the outcome that a Judge is likely to consider fair, with the hope and intention that the parties are then able to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution to their dispute.
Jeremy and Adam do this in four phases:
1. One-on-one meeting
You each meet the lawyer individually to discuss your goals. Various other options will be explained before committing to the process.
2. Joint meeting together
You meet together with your lawyer. This is the planning stage as to what information is required.
3. Number crunching/planning
At this meeting, we discuss your financial options and arrangements for your children (as relevant).
4. Agreement
We provide you with an analysis of your options. If agreed, we prepare a binding agreement to be lodged at Court.
Mediation
Mediation is where two people discuss and hopefully agree the best way forward in a confidential setting with the assistance of a trained third-party mediator who is impartial and non-judgmental.
Mediation is a voluntary process, meaning that it can only take place if both people want to commit to resolving the dispute in this way. Nobody can be forced to come to mediation, as the process depends on a willingness to talk about coming to an agreement. Mediation cannot be ordered or enforced by a court, but it can be encouraged. Mediation produces a non-binding agreement that can easily be converted into a binding court order by consent.
Gail Marchant-Daisley, Jeremy Ford, Adam Moghadas and Tricia Ashton are all family mediators.
Follow the download links on this page for more information.
Collaborative Practice
Collaborative family law enables people to separate with dignity and reach a settlement that is fair for the whole family. The process takes place through a series of meetings where both parties and their lawyers are all present, working as a team towards the same goals. Each person is supported, guided and advised throughout by his or her own lawyer, and correspondence between solicitors is kept to a minimum to better keep costs under control.
Everyone agrees at the outset that they will not take the dispute to court, and if the collaborative law process does not facilitate the participants in reaching an agreement, they must instruct entirely different lawyers to litigate.
Cambridge Family Law Practice has unrivalled expertise in the collaborative law process.
Follow the download links on this page for more information.
Court proceedings
In some cases, it is essential to go straight to court with a family law dispute. This may be the case, for example, where any member of the family is likely to be put at risk by a delay, where information or assets need to be preserved, or where there is sufficient evidence of one person’s bad faith that there is likely to be little point in negotiating.
In other cases, negotiating an agreement may not have been possible despite sincere attempts to do so, or it simply takes too long. In any event and whatever your circumstances, where court proceedings are necessary, we can put your best case forwards.
We are experienced court advocates and manage most court hearings ourselves. We will only suggest instructing a barrister when it is in your interests to do so.
Arbitration
Rather than issue proceedings at the court, which usually takes many months, participants have the option of agreeing to select an Arbitrator to determine their dispute. Whether that be concerning a dispute relating to children (child arrangements, which school your child should attend, or whether your child should or should not move to live abroad) or finances.
Both Simon Bethel and Jeremy Ford are qualified to arbitrate matters concerning children.
Simon has been described as “adept in complex children disputes“, “highly knowledgeable” and “never short of a new idea“. He works hard to achieve the best outcome for families.
Jeremy Ford has been described as “an outstanding lawyer…he thinks outside the box and his years of experience working for CAFCASS sets him apart from the competition when it comes to children cases”.
Tricia Ashton is qualified to arbitrate matters concerning finances.
Tricia is described as “an exceptional lawyer who is able to grapple with complicated legal and factual issues and distil them into a cohesive approach”.
All of our partners can advise and represent clients during the arbitration process.
Follow the download links on this page for more information.