Family Law

Welcome to Jacksons Family Law department. 

We offer practical and legal advice on all aspects of family law and relationships, from planning your future together to separating should your relationship come to an end. We also offer advice and support to assist you in managing arrangements for your children or grandchildren and practical and legal assistance to protect you from domestic abuse.

For couples planning to live together we can advise you on drafting an agreement to record your intentions at the outset, particularly if you are investing different sums of deposit in a property purchase, or you may wish to outline what would happen to a family pet. This document, known as a cohabitation (or living together) agreement, can be relied upon if a disagreement arises in the future.

You may wish to consider entering into a pre-nuptial and / or post-nuptial agreement in advance of your wedding day. Just as you will enter into contacts for your wedding venue and take out wedding insurance, the pre / post nuptial agreement is the only way to protect any assets that either of you may have acquired prior to the relationship. Financial disagreements can be a major cause of marital disputes and are frequently a significant factor in marital breakdown. A nuptial agreement is intended to clarify what each party would expect to leave the marriage with, in the event of separation.

We can advise and represent you in separation and divorce, and assist in formalising any separation following the breakdown of your cohabiting relationship.

The breakdown of a relationship recognised as one of the most stressful experiences to live through. We can advise and represent you in the early stages of your separation regarding practical issues such as who should stay in the house, and how to meet household expenditure. We can also assist you in reaching a settlement by agreement, whether by negotiation, collaboration, mediation or alternative dispute resolution. Where necessary, we can advise and represent you through the financial settlement Court process.

Our firm is on the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) panel and all of our family solicitors are experienced in assisting farmers and farm workers through relationship breakdown, divorce and disputes over the family farm.

Where children are involved, we aim to assist you to agree a parenting arrangement with the other parent / carer. If agreement can be reached, this can be recorded in a document often referred to as a parenting agreement.

In some circumstances, it is not possible to agree arrangements for children (sometimes referred to as custody, residence, contact or access) so we can assist you in referral to mediation and with court applications for Child Arrangements Orders (often referred to as contact / access and custody / residence orders) and Special Guardianship Orders.

We can also assist grandparents or other family members who are struggling to agree arrangements or wish to resume a relationship with the child in question.

Contact FamilyTeam@Jacksons-law.com or telephone 01642 356500 to arrange a free initial consultation by telephone to provide you with an overview of the law relating to your case, and guidance on costs.

With offices are in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Teesside we are well placed to help clients in any area of the North East including Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Redcar, North Yorkshire, Hartlepool, Darlington, County Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle and Northumberland.

We can call upon the specialist advice of our colleagues at Jacksons Law Firm offering expertise in Commercial Property, Corporate Law, Residential Property, Employment, Litigation and Private Client.

We can help you in all aspects of family law including:

• Cohabitation agreements
• Child arrangements
• Pre / Post-nuptial agreements
• Separation – married couples / civil partners
• Divorce and Dissolution
• Farming cases
• Domestic abuse
• Financial matters
• Disputes over children including grandparents rights
• Special Guardianship
• Parental responsibility
• Change of Name
• Separation of unmarried partners
• Collaborative Law