One parent is at sea for six months; the other wants to move back to Glasgow with the children. Few family law problems are as distinctively Plymouth as that one, and family solicitors in the city deal with it in every form: deployment schedules that make alternate weekends meaningless, postings that would take a child to Scotland or Cyprus, and the loss of service accommodation when a relationship ends. The family court at Plymouth Combined Court Centre on Armada Way decides the cases that cannot be agreed, with Cafcass reporting on the children's welfare, but most are settled in mediation after the mediation information and assessment meeting that normally comes first.
Civilian families have the same questions in other forms. Where will the children live, how will they see the other parent, who pays the mortgage on the house in Plympton, and what happens if one parent takes a job in Exeter or Bristol? Grandparents apply for contact; step-parents seek parental responsibility; a father who was never married to the mother may need to establish it.
Domestic abuse cases are a constant part of the work, and Plymouth's family solicitors can obtain non-molestation and occupation orders within days, with legal aid available to the applicant. Parents whose children are the subject of care proceedings brought by Plymouth City Council are entitled to legal aid regardless of income, and the city's firms with children panel solicitors represent them.
Unmarried couples find on separation that the law gives them no claim on each other's property except through trust law; a cohabitation agreement, or a declaration of trust when buying, is cheap insurance.
A fixed-fee or free first meeting is standard, with hourly rates for contested work.
Plymouth's family law firms are listed below, verified firms first. Read what family law covers and the divorce process, see the general family law solicitors guide, or go to divorce solicitors in Plymouth.
