Two names on the mortgage of a house in Easton, one name on the deposit, and no conversation about what would happen if they split: that is how a great many Bristol relationships start, and family law solicitors in Bristol are the people who sort it out when they end. Couples who buy together without marrying get nothing automatic from the law. Their shares depend on the deeds, on any declaration of trust and, failing those, on an expensive argument about what was intended and who paid for what, decided under trusts law rather than family law. A cohabitation agreement and a declaration of trust at the point of buying cost little and prevent most of it.
Children come next. Arrangements for a child whose parents live on opposite sides of the city, Southmead and Knowle say, with school places, the M32 and hospital shifts in between, are usually settled in mediation after the mediation information and assessment meeting the court expects before an application. Otherwise the family court at the Bristol Civil and Family Justice Centre decides, with Cafcass reporting on welfare. The same court hears care proceedings brought by Bristol City Council and the neighbouring councils, for which parents are entitled to legal aid regardless of means, and the non-molestation and occupation orders that protect victims of domestic abuse, which can be made within days.
Bristol's international population brings relocation and abduction questions, and prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are increasingly sought by couples with a business or family money behind them. Many firms offer a fixed-fee first meeting and hourly rates after that, and legal aid for domestic abuse work is worth asking about early.
The family law firms serving Bristol are listed below, verified firms first. Read what family law covers and the general family law solicitors guide, and for the divorce itself see divorce solicitors in Bristol and the divorce process.
