Something for the Week End – Friday 10th January 2014

Happy New Year from all at FLP!

The first week of the year is always notorious for being a busy one for family lawyers (with the first Monday being dubbed ‘Divorce Day’) and it’s been no exception at FLP. What has struck us the most is the amount of enquiries as to alternatives to Court, such as collaborative law and mediation. It seems word is getting round that you do not need to attend Court to solve issues. We’re hoping to introduce another alternative, arbitration, to our services soon and will blog about this shortly.

Here’s what the team have been up to this week: –

Robert:

A rush of hearings coming up has resulted in a busy start to the year. The enquires I have dealt with lead me to conclude clients are now much clearer about the options including the collaborative law model. It’s also interesting how previous enquiries are touching base again with to review their options. Have we only been back a week?

Alan:

Most of my focus this week has been upon getting a settlement in a disputed estate case involving a child which requires the approval of a court. Desperate to get some funds to this child who hasn’t received a penny from his late father’s estate.

Lisa:

The highlight of my week has been settling a very difficult, emotionally charged case for my client which involved the living and contact arrangements for his children. The court hearing was due to take place over two days. On the first day of the hearing the parents worked hard by talking to each other and really thinking about what was best for their children. They were able to reach an agreement which will work for them and more importantly will benefit their children.

Chris:

This week I have written an article on the alternatives to Court proceedings and have been meeting with clients in order to take information from them so that I can draft their Statements.

Linda:

What a week. Family mediation, collaborative role play that the University I played the wife and Alan played the husband (we are still not speaking), meeting about the drafting of a document, considering financial matter, considering children application and trying to find out what progress the police have made in another matter, meeting with a client to prepare children court papers ready for a hearing. Finishing the week with the Sussex Family Solutions cocktail night, although I am driving.

Miriam:

Very busy and productive first week back in the office for 2014. Assisting Alan on finalising an application within proceedings under the Civil Procedure Rules where the Defendant resides in Thailand and on a personal note I’ve been keeping our feeder at FLP Towers filled with nuts for our resident squirrel ‘Stealth’ and his partner – perhaps we’ll be drafting a prenuptial agreement for them soon!

If you follow us on Twitter you will have seen we have asked what you would like us to blog about. If you have any suggestions let us know.

Lucy