The East London Family Court sits at Westferry Circus, within sight of the Canary Wharf towers, but most of the families who appear in it come from the estates of Poplar, Stepney, Shadwell and Bethnal Green, and most of them arrive with a housing problem as well as a family one. Family law solicitors in Tower Hamlets learn to deal with both: a mother seeking a non-molestation order also needs to know whether she can stay in the tenancy, and a father applying for contact may have nowhere for the children to stay.
Three kinds of case dominate. Care proceedings brought by the council carry automatic legal aid for parents, regardless of income, and move to a strict timetable. Domestic abuse injunctions, non-molestation and occupation orders, can be obtained within days and are also legally aided, with the evidence of abuse opening the door to legal aid for the wider case. Disputes between separated parents over where children live and how often they see each parent normally start with a mediation information and assessment meeting.
The borough's Bangladeshi community adds questions that few other parts of the country see so often. A couple married only by nikah in Tower Hamlets are cohabitants in the eyes of the law, so the home is divided under trust principles and the children's needs are met through claims under the Children Act rather than through a financial remedy. Forced marriage protection orders, disputes about children taken to Bangladesh and the interaction of English orders with sharia councils are all familiar ground for local practitioners.
Most Tower Hamlets family firms offer a fixed-fee first meeting and hourly rates for contested work, with legal aid where it still applies.
Family law firms serving Tower Hamlets are listed below, verified firms first. See what family law covers, the general family law solicitors guide, the divorce process and, for the divorce itself, divorce solicitors in Tower Hamlets.
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