A letter from Southwark Council's children's services asking a parent to attend a meeting, with a line about "pre-proceedings", is one of the most frightening things that can land on a doormat in Peckham or Walworth. It is also the moment legal aid becomes available regardless of income, so ring a family law solicitor the same day and take them to the meeting. Care proceedings are a larger part of family law in an inner-London borough than most people realise, and a solicitor who regularly acts for parents will know the social workers, the council's lawyers and the judges.
The rest of the work is the familiar list. Before a parent can apply to the court about where a child lives or how much time the other parent has, a mediation information and assessment meeting is normally required, and many Southwark disputes settle in mediation with the agreement written into a consent order. Where a hearing is needed, cases go to the Central Family Court in Holborn or another London family court, and non-molestation and occupation orders in domestic abuse cases can be obtained within days, with legal aid for the applicant.
Southwark's families are international, which shows in the questions solicitors are asked: whether a marriage celebrated abroad or in a religious ceremony counts in English law, what happens when a parent wants to take a child to live overseas, and how a couple who never married divide a flat they bought together, since there is no such thing as a common-law spouse. A declaration of trust on the flat, signed while things are good, prevents the last of those.
Most firms will see you first for free or for a fixed fee; contested work is charged by the hour.
Family law firms serving Southwark are listed below, verified first. The explainer on what family law covers and the general family law solicitors page give the background, and the divorce solicitors in Southwark page deals with the divorce itself.
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