Family Law Solicitors

At HCB, we know the importance of dealing with your family legal issues in a sensitive way, while offering practical solutions that protect your interests and those of your loved ones.

Our solicitors understand that legal issues and disputes involving your family can be both complex and highly emotionally charged. We therefore do everything we can to help guide you through the process of finding a solution in a supportive, pragmatic way that makes things as painless as possible, while ensuring you get the fair resolution you need.

We have one of the largest networks of family lawyers in the UK, spread across 24 offices nationwide. This means we have the expertise to offer an effective solution, no matter what your legal issue or where you are. Our team have trained at some of the top law firms in the UK, meaning we can guarantee a first-class service every time.

Speak to one of our highly experienced family law solicitors today by contacting your local HCB office.

Our family law services

HCB’s network of family lawyers across the UK provides a full range of legal services for individuals and their families.

Divorce & Separation

Our divorce solicitors will work with you quickly and meticulously to help reach a divorce settlement that takes into account your priorities and needs. We can guide you through the entire process of getting divorced or separating, including the legal steps required to start or respond to divorce proceedings and working out any financial settlement and arrangements from children.

Cohabitation Agreements

If you and your partner are planning to live together without getting married on entering a civil partnership, we can help you create a strong cohabitation agreement to protect your interests. This is particularly worth considering if you are planning to buy property together, or if one of you will be contributing to the mortgage of a property the other owns. A well-written cohabitation can reduce the potential for conflict while living together and simplify matters if your relationship ends.

Pre-Nuptial Agreements

A pre-nuptial agreement allows you to ensure your interests will not be harmed if your marriage ends in divorce. Although pre-nuptial agreements are not currently binding under UK law, a judge will take a pre-nup into account as long as it is written in a legally sound way. Our solicitors can help you create a pre-nuptial agreement that meets all the legal requirements, giving you the best chance of having it considered if required.

Financial settlements

We can help you negotiate a financial settlement when getting divorced or separating, ensuring you get a fair deal for you and your dependants. Where possible, we will do this without the need for court action, but where court proceedings are required, we will robustly represent your interests. If you do reach a voluntary agreement, we can apply for a court order to make this legally binding, reducing the potential for future conflict.

Arrangements for children

Our family lawyers will work with you and your ex-partner to agree arrangements for your children, including residence, contact and other crucial details related to their upbringing. Where a voluntary agreement cannot be reached, we can take the necessary action on your behalf to ensure your rights and your children’s wellbeing are protected. We can also help with grandparents’ rights, paternity and any other issues relating to children, such as parental relocation.

Child Maintenance

We know how important it is to make sure your children are provided for. We can support you with all aspects of reaching a child maintenance agreement and enforcing payment, if required. If the need arises to vary your existing child maintenance agreement, we can represent you in negotiating a new agreement, or taking the matter to court if this is the only or best option.

Domestic Violence

If you have been the victim of domestic abuse, we will take swift action on your behalf to protect you and your loved ones. We can apply for court orders that stop your abuser for approaching you and contacting you, as well as forcing them to leave your family home where necessary.

Why choose HCB family law solicitors?

We are experts in family law

Within the family department at HCB we have only the very best lawyers working for you. Each and every one of our lawyers has been chosen because they excel within the field of family law. Their commitment to you, and their passion for the subject, mean that you will receive only the very best service.

We have specialists in many other areas of law across our network

Family legal issues can often spill over into other areas of the law, especially where you work with your partner or own a business or property investments together. 

Thanks to our large network of law firms across the country, we have specialists in most areas of the law. This means we can call on their expertise when required to resolve any issues related to a family dispute or other legal issue.

Our team includes:

• Property solicitors who can deal with transfers of property as part of any settlement.
• Employment law specialists who will advise you if you work for your former partner's company. 
• Company law specialists if there is a family business that needs looking at.
• A tax expert who is a non-solicitor and deals with any complex trusts or tax consequences of your settlement.

We have excellent links with a range of external experts

Over the years, we have also built up a trusted range of external experts that we can recommend, if the need arises. If you feel you would benefit from talking to a counsellor, we can suggest some names. If you need a mortgage, we can find someone to help you. If you receive a cash lump sum, we can bring in independent financial advisors for you to speak to. 

To HCB, being your lawyer means looking at more than just the law – it means looking after you, in full.

We have a clear pricing policy 

We understand the importance of knowing how you are charged, when you will be charged and what your likely overall costs will be.

We cannot always provide you with a specific figure because every matter is different and many factors can affect the costs after we start. However, we will always provide you with a quote at the outset, broken down into the stages you will be going through. 

We will tell you as soon as these estimates look like they will be exceeded and tell you what factors can increase your costs from our estimates. We are very conscious that managing your costs is important, so we work with you to help you to minimise your costs where possible.

We offer some services on a fixed fee basis, so please have a look at our pricing for more information.

We think laterally for your benefit

We know every situation is different and you may not feel dealing exclusively through solicitors is right for you. 

At your initial meeting, we will also talk you through the other ways we may be able to resolve your matter, such as round table meetings and any other appropriate options. We will advise what is likely to deliver the best results in your case, and agree an approach you feel comfortable with.

We also explore other avenues, such as mediation with external bodies that we know by reputation and experience to be productive.

If your matter is suitable for mediation, we will tell you and make the referral. We will then advise you if there is any information missing that may affect your settlement, what the law says about what you are entitled to and provide our advice on any agreement reached at mediation. We then offer you a fixed fee to embody the agreement reached at mediation in a binding court order to protect your position long term. 

If, after mediation, you need more help, either to refine your agreement or to explore other possibilities, we can work for you on an hourly rate basis for which we would provide you with a full and clear estimate of fees.

We work for you

We appreciate that your case has individual circumstances requiring a tailored approach to achieve the best results for you and your interest.

At HCB, every one of our lawyers will deal with your situation according to your wishes and priorities. If that means we need an approach marked by gentle and unthreatening correspondence, that is what we will do. However, if matters require a firm hand, we will be ready.

Ultimately, we work for you and that means we want to give you the service you expect and need to achieve your goals.

Get in touch with our family law solicitors across the UK

To consult our highly experienced family law solicitors about any legal issues affecting you and your family, please contact your local HCB office or use the enquiry form below and we will get back to you promptly.