We at Lanyon Bowdler understand how important your children are and how upsetting it can be when matters relating to your children cannot be resolved by agreement.
Our team offers specialist advice on all areas of children law matters. We pride ourselves on being friendly and approachable whilst giving you first class advice and a professional service during what can be a stressful time.
Our lawyers are all members of Resolution - a national organisation of family lawyers - and are committed to the Resolution Code of Practice, which means we will endeavour to resolve matters with as little confrontation as possible, supporting families to put the best interests of the children first.
The team also includes members of the Law Society Family Panel and accredited specialists with Resolution, so you can be assured our solicitors are experienced in all aspects of English and Welsh law governing private children matters.
For a friendly chat about how we can help, give the team a call or fill in the online enquiry form.
In particular we can advise on the following:
Parental responsibility
What actually is parental responsibility and how do you acquire it? What are parental responsibility agreements, step-parent parental responsibility agreements and parental responsibility orders?
Child arrangements
Our specialists can help families resolve with whom the child shall live or spend time using mediation techniques, solicitors’ correspondence, collaborative law and, if necessary, court proceedings.
We can then advise on what the court procedure will involve and how the court will apply the non-intervention principle (i.e. the presumption of the court not to intervene unless in the best interests of the child) and welfare checklist (the seven criteria the court uses to ascertain what decision is best for the child) when considering whether to make an order and what type of order they will likely make.
We will advise on the type of safeguarding issues the court will take into account; how these can be investigated or evidenced and how this may or may not impact upon the final order made. We are also experienced at the preparation of court bundles, witness statements and representation at hearings, and will guide you through the whole process from start to finish.
Prohibited steps and specific issue orders
These are orders dealing with issues regarding an aspect of the exercise of parental responsibility. For example, an order regarding:
● Educational issues, such as an order specifying where the child shall go to school
● Internal and external relocation cases, including whether the child can be removed from English and Welsh jurisdiction
● Routine and non-life threatening medical treatment for the child
● Securing the return of a child
Child maintenance
Our team of specialists will explain how child maintenance is calculated; whether an agreement can be drawn up without Child Maintenance Service (CMS) involvement or if a formal claim needs to be made and how this may impact upon the level of maintenance paid or received.
Paternity disputes
We can advise how paternity disputes can be resolved with or without court proceedings.
At Lanyon Bowdler solicitors we have a no-surprise approach to costs. We offer fixed fees and pay as you go arrangements, in addition to the traditional hourly charging rate approach, so you can tailor your costs to suit your personal circumstances.
Give us a call or complete our online enquiry form to see how we can help. We have offices in Telford, Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Ludlow, Bromyard and Hereford as well as meeting rooms in Conwy, North Wales, so are able to act for clients all over Shropshire, Herefordshire, Mid and North Wales and across the Midlands and beyond.
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