Since April 2024 the family court has been able to pause a case about children or money and send the parents back to mediation or another form of out-of-court resolution, and to penalise in costs anyone who refuses without good reason. In Norfolk, where a hearing in Norwich can mean a day's travel from Hunstanton or Great Yarmouth, that push has been felt more than in most places, and family law solicitors in Norwich now spend as much time preparing clients for mediation, arbitration and round-table meetings as for court.
Court is still needed for the cases that will not settle, and the family court at Norwich Combined Court Centre, with some hearings at King's Lynn, decides where children live, how they see each parent and whether one parent may move away, with Cafcass reporting on welfare. Service families at RAF Marham face postings that unsettle arrangements every few years. Grandparents, many of them retired to the coast, apply for contact more often here than in younger cities. Domestic abuse injunctions can be obtained within days and attract legal aid, and parents facing care proceedings brought by Norfolk County Council qualify for legal aid whatever their means.
Unmarried couples separating in Norwich, and there are many in a city of students and young professionals, find that the law gives them almost nothing; a cohabitation agreement and a declaration of trust on the house, signed while things are good, avoid the worst of it. Prenuptial agreements come from farming families protecting land and from second marriages late in life with children on both sides to provide for.
Most Norwich family solicitors offer a fixed-fee first meeting, fixed prices for agreements and hourly rates for contested work.
Family law firms serving Norwich are listed below, verified firms first and then by distance. Read what family law covers and the general family law solicitors guide, and for the divorce itself see divorce solicitors in Norwich and the divorce process.
