Twenty miles can separate a child's two homes in Oxfordshire, because the parent who leaves the family home in Oxford often cannot afford to stay in the city. Arrangements for children therefore turn on practical things: which school, who drives, whether the Didcot or Bicester train makes a weekday overnight possible. Family law solicitors in Oxford are used to building orders around those constraints, and to the mediation information and assessment meeting that most parents must attend before applying to the family court, which sits in the city with Cafcass reporting on welfare.
International families are the second characteristic. A researcher's post ends and one parent wants to take the children home to another country; a visa depends on a marriage that is over; grandparents abroad want contact. Relocation applications, and the urgent work that follows when a child is taken abroad without consent, are a recognisable part of practice in Oxford.
Care proceedings are brought by Oxfordshire County Council, and parents facing them are entitled to legal aid regardless of income. Where there is domestic abuse, a non-molestation or occupation order can be in place within days, with legal aid to pay for it. Unmarried couples, common in a city of younger professionals, discover on separation that they have none of the protection marriage gives, so a declaration of trust on a jointly bought house and a cohabitation agreement matter a great deal here. Prenuptial agreements come from international couples, from those with inherited wealth and from people marrying again.
Oxford family solicitors generally charge nothing, or a fixed sum, for the first appointment, then by the hour once a case is contested.
Family law firms serving Oxford are listed below, verified firms first. What family law covers is the general explainer, the family law solicitors guide describes what they do, and the divorce solicitors in Oxford page handles the divorce itself; the article on the divorce process is useful too.
