Our Services
Family and Childcare Lawyers, Croydon, London.
As a specialist family law firm in Croydon, London we are on hand to support you through a variety of family law matters including divorce and separation, cohabitation, financial and child arrangements.
Speak to our specialist family lawyers to arrange a no obligation consultation to receive initial guidance and support in understanding your legal options.
We provide an initial 20-minute complimentary consultation with an informal telephone conversation to assess your current situation and determine how we can provide you with the best support and assistance. After this, we will provide further instruction on how to take your matter further.
Our Service Areas of Expertise
- Family Law – We specialise in all aspects of family law, including divorce, separation, financial proceedings, and child related matters. Whatever you’re facing as a family, we’re here to listen to what you have to say and help with what you need to do.
- Divorce and Separation – The breakdown of a marriage is an emotionally charged and highly stressful time. Our personalised approach means we carefully listen to your concerns and desired outcomes and provide a bespoke service based on your individual requirements.
- Private Law Proceedings – Private law proceedings are those where there is generally a dispute between family members.
- Cohabitation Issues – Many couples live together without getting married or forming a civil partnership, however many don’t understand their legal rights in the event of separation. We help guide you through the legal process if you haven’t been married.
- Representation in Court – Representing yourself or directly negotiating with your former partner can be fraught with difficulties. Avoid putting yourself in this situation and seek professional support instead.
- Care Proceedings – We specialise in representing parents, children and guardians in care proceedings.
- Pro Bono Work – The firm encourages its lawyers to provide free or low-cost legal services to local charities and not for profit organisations. The firm also gives free initial advice at clinics held both in the office and at other locations across the region.
Family Law
As a specialist family law firm in Croydon, we provide advice and assistance in respect of all family matters including divorce and separation, financial arrangements, parental responsibility, and child arrangements (custody, contact agreements, prohibited steps, and lived with orders), non-molestation orders, occupation orders, cohabitation agreements, prenuptial and nuptial agreements and civil partnerships.
At Berry Legal, our family solicitors understand that every situation is different. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, so we ensure we provide bespoke, tailored advice and guidance to suit your individual needs and desired outcomes. Whilst the process can seem dauting, we’re on hand to support you, providing support along every step of the way.
Private Law Proceedings
Private law proceedings are those where there is generally a dispute between family members. This can include disputes:
- as to with whom children should live;
- how often they should see the other parent or family members;
- disputes in regards to individual issues such as taking the children abroad on holiday or even permanently;
- what religion they should be brought up in; and
- which school they should attend and/or medical treatment.
Children are often hit the hardest by a divorce, so we adopt a child-centred, sympathetic approach to childcare and custody matters. We aim to adopt a collaborative approach and offer mediation with the aim of settling your agreements peacefully, outside of the Courts.
If you have concerns about how someone is caring for a child, or you have social workers trying to contact you, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. Our child protection lawyers specialise in representing parents, children, and extended family members in relation to social services involvement with children. We understand how distressing it can be to have social services involved in your situation, so we aim to help you resolve family matters in a positive way, wherever possible, and ensure families have all the support they need to care for their children.
We also provide advice to parents and family members seeking contact with children in care. We frequently advise on Special Guardianship Orders, which can place children in long-term care with family members or other adult carers, instead of being adopted. If you are subject to a special guardianship order, please contact us for further help and advice.
Divorce & Separation
The breakdown of a marriage or relationship is never an enjoyable experience. Emotions run high, and it can be difficult to plan your future alone. With sudden changes, and the uncertainty that comes with them, we understand it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed. Reaching an agreement on matters such as living arrangements, childcare, property, and assets can therefore be a challenge.
Berry Legal family law solicitors in Croydon offers substantial expertise alongside compassionate understanding when it comes to resolving family disputes. Divorce law is complex, but Berry Legal will guide you through the process.
Drawing from vast experience in this area, our family solicitors work to protect your interests and quickly resolve your disputes. We can provide you with pragmatic advice for a variety of financial matters including the family home, capital assets and pension provision.
Our priority is to help families move forward through any conflicts, with a view to reaching mutually beneficial agreements. We always seek a peaceful resolution through mediation in the first instance, though we will support you as required to reach a fair settlement, whichever route you choose to take.
Cohabitation Issues
When a relationship breaks down for a cohabiting couple, your path can be difficult to navigate because it’s less well defined. Unmarried couples who live together have fewer legal rights than a married couple and the law for separation of assets and income for cohabiting couples is much misunderstood. It is often thought that cohabiting couples are protected by ‘common law’ rights in the same way married couples are, but this is not the case.
When a cohabiting couple’s relationship breaks down, the legal ramifications are very different to that of a married couple. Assets such as the family home are not divided as they would be in a divorce and there’s no automatic entitlement to financial, capital, spousal maintenance, or pension claims. There is also a widely held view that the longer the relationship lasts, the greater the entitlement to assets or income – this is also not true.
If you have been in a relationship with a partner, without the formality or marriage, we can provide you with practical assistance and pragmatic advice on alternative ways to move forward through the separation.
Representation In Court
Not all divorce and family law matters end up in court. At Berry Legal, we always aim to resolve matters without court intervention first as this is likely to be less stressful and more cost effective than contested litigation. However, there are some cases where Court proceedings are appropriate and necessary if a mutual agreement cannot be reached.
As part of our service, we will discuss your options for resolving your disputes and detail which is the most appropriate for your case. The usual starting point is through mediation and negotiation, which can take place between lawyers, or individuals representing themselves. If court proceedings are deemed the only option, Berry legal are highly experienced in representing clients at a range of Court Hearings, including Divorce, Finance, Children Matters and Injunctions.
Whilst every individual has the right to speak for themselves in court without a solicitor or other legal professional, representing yourself can be fraught with difficulties. It can seem like an effective way to save money on legal expenses, but Court can be a bewildering and stressful experience. We work with our clients to safeguard your best interests and minimise your apprehension with our professional and decisive representation.
If you require Court Proceedings to be issued, or have been served with Court papers, please contact us, and we can talk through your options, and how we might be able to assist you.
Request a consultation
We encourage our clients to contact us directly for a 20-minute initial consultation. Our experienced lawyers will gladly assist you, without obligation, and ascertain if it’s right for us to work together on your matter.
Care Proceedings (Involvement with Social Services)
We specialise in representing parents, children and guardians in care proceedings. Our experienced lawyers can provide you with advice and assistance that will help navigate you through a very emotional and complex system. We will support you through the entire process from child in need plans to complex public law proceedings. We ensure that information and advice is tailored made and presented to you in a manageable way. We will ensure that you and your family get the care and assistance you need and deserve.
We can provide advice ad assistance in the following areas of child protection;