A parent is offered a post in Boston, Singapore or Munich and wants to take the children. In most English cities that is a rare case; in Cambridge, where careers in science and academia routinely cross borders, it is a regular one, and family law solicitors in Cambridge handle relocation applications, cross-border arrangements for children and the occasional Hague Convention abduction case as a matter of course. The family court on East Road decides those applications, with Cafcass reporting on the child's welfare, and the question is always whether the move serves the child rather than the career.
More ordinary separations follow the usual route. Parents must normally attend a mediation information and assessment meeting before applying to court, and many Cambridge disputes about where a child lives and how time is shared are resolved in mediation, with a solicitor turning the agreement into a consent order. Unmarried couples, of whom the city's young professional population has a great many, learn on separation that the law gives them almost none of the protection that marriage would; a cohabitation agreement, and a written record of who owns what share of the house, drawn up while the relationship is good, are cheap insurance. Prenuptial agreements are asked for by founders holding shares, by people marrying for a second time and by families with inherited property.
Injunctions come first when there is abuse: a non-molestation order can be in place within days, and legal aid covers it. Legal aid also covers parents in care proceedings brought by Cambridgeshire County Council, whatever their income.
Most family solicitors in Cambridge offer a fixed-fee first meeting and hourly rates for contested work, with fixed prices for cohabitation agreements and prenups.
Family law firms serving Cambridge are listed below, verified firms first and then by distance. Read what family law covers and the general family law solicitors guide, see divorce solicitors in Cambridge for the divorce itself, and the divorce process for the timetable.
