Legal Services

Family

Legal Services

Family

Legal advice you can trust

At Rollos, we pride ourselves on the professional service and the results we deliver for our clients.
 
Our team of considerate Family lawyers are on hand to provide concise, expert legal guidance on all areas of Family Law such as advice relating to co-habitation, your children, civil partnerships or separation and divorce.
 
We can advise, represent and support you through any means necessary during this stressful time.
 

Whether you’re looking to formalise any relationship and secure your future interests or are simply seeking legal guidance should your relationship break down.

Regulating the care arrangements for children when a couple are separating can sometimes be difficult. Many people still talk about seeking custody or getting access. These terms no longer exist in Scots law because they imply possession or ownership of the child. If both parents are named on the child’s birth certificate, they share parental rights and responsibilities over that child.
Residence is the term used to describe where the child principally lives, and usually it is the child’s best interests to have regular contact to the non-resident parent. If parents are unable to reach an agreement on residence or contact, we can offer guidance and representation in the Family Court. If it is better for the Court to grant an order of residence or contact of the child under 16 than not, an order will be granted.
 
A Contact Order is a Court order which regulates the time a child spends with the parent the child does not live with. There is no set rule as to how much time a parent should spend with their child. The Court’s primary concern is what is in the child’s best interests. Therefore, what may be in one child’s best interest’s may be different to their siblings.  Contact orders can also regulate how much time the non-resident parent spends with the child over school holidays. Again, there is no set rule as to how much time each child spends with their parents and this will vary from case to case.
 
Depending on the child’s age and stage, the Court will must take into account the views of the child. These may be taken by sending the child a Form to complete in age-appropriate language or by a Court Child Welfare Reporter. This is an individual who is appointed by the Court to meet with the child in a neutral environment and report the child’s views back to the Court.
 
Going to court to regulate a child’s care arrangements should be a very last resort for parties – the more that can be agreed without the need for court intervention the better and often solicitors can resolve issues by reaching a care arrangement that is acceptable and will benefit the child. Parties need not instruct a solicitor to do this and can instead seek Mediation via Relationship Scotland or other agencies.

We understand that key considerations such as arrangements for your child and financial matters can often cause conflict and be challenging times for most households. We will always aim to reach an agreement to resolve matters in your best interest, but should you require court action we will support you throughout the process.

Separating from a partner and exiting what was previously a settled relationship can be an emotional and stressful time, with or without children.

We can also deal with financial and property related issues, working towards a clear and clean break Agreement.

Normally once all the matrimonial property has been valued and an agreement reached on what is to be an acceptable division of the assets and the debts, everything is recorded into a written agreement. Once signed by both parties it serves as a legally binding contract and survives any future action of divorce.

There are several grounds of divorce in Scots law and these are:

  • Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage caused by one spouse’s unreasonable behaviour.
  • Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage caused by one spouse’s adultery.
  • A period of non-cohabitation in excess of one year if both spouses consent to divorce, failing which, a period of two years non-cohabitation.

Where there are no longer any children under 16 and no financial or property related matters to resolve, a quicker and cheaper divorce under the simplified procedure can take place providing parties qualify for either of the non-cohabitation grounds as above.

It’s common nowadays for couples to enter into a Pre-Nuptial Agreement before entering a marriage. This is a legal document that sets out the intentions for both parties assets into a binding written document.

In the unfortunate circumstance your relationship should breakdown, we can support you in drawing up a Post Nuptial Agreement, dealing with how assets should be divided on dissolution or divorce.

A guardianship order enables someone to make decisions or carry out tasks for an adult with incapacity.

This can include financial decisions and ones relating to care and welfare.

A guardianship order can be granted by the Court and can apply to anyone who is aged over 16 and is unable to make some or all of their own decisions. This can be through a lack of memory, lack of understanding or lack of communication.

If you need support obtaining a guardianship order, Rollos family law experts are here to help.

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