It has been recognised by the head of the family court system; Sir Andrew McFarlane, that one fifth of divorces are wrongly ending up in court.
He said ‘Parents are fooling themselves if they think children are unaffected’
He went on to speak about the adversarial nature and language of court proceedings and how if you are the child of parents at odds with each other, that is unhealthy. ‘It does your head in to put it in straightforward terms’ he said speaking on BBC Radio 4.
Here at Scott Bailey LLP; we have experienced professionals who aim to deal with family breakdown in a much better way; we can offer the collaborative route, where you sit down with your lawyer and your partner and their lawyer, and between you resolve the issues about money or children without the need for attending court. You choose when to have the meetings, you have full legal support throughout. You then can leave that process with a clear head, a clear way forward and be able to manage co-parenting going forward.
In addition; we offer mediation including Child Inclusive Mediation by Sarah Unsworth Head of our Family Department. As well as family solicitors, both Ann Herd and Sarah are fully qualified and accredited mediators again offering a non-contentious dispute resolution if your family unit breaks down. The government will pay £500 towards mediation involving children.
Don’t think court is the only way, there are much better ways to preserve your parenting and your family unit than within the highly conflicted arena that is the family court.
Please contact Ann Herd or Sarah Unsworth, partners and solicitors in our Hampshire family law team, for more information and an initial meeting to explain your non court options.
