Family Law Solicitors
When going through any major life changes involving your family, such as moving in with your partner, getting married or divorced, it is essential to protect yourselves and your loved ones with expert legal advice.
Working with our approachable, highly experienced family Law team can make dealing with these sensitive matters much easier, minimising the potential for conflict while making sure you get the right outcome for you and your family.
Based in Plymouth, Wolferstans has one of the largest teams of family lawyers in the South West, specialising in all aspects of Family Law. We can help you with all types of family matters in a professional and sympathetic way.
Our Family Law team can offer you:
- Fixed fee family law services and transparent hourly rates
- Specialist teams dealing with divorce and finances, arrangements for children, and collaborative law.
Clear Legal Guidance
Whether you’re separating, divorcing, or making child arrangements, we’ll explain your rights and help you make informed decisions. We understand that family matters are deeply personal and can be emotionally challenging.
Our experienced team will protect your interests, prioritise your children’s welfare, and guide you through each step with sensitivity and care. We’re here to support you throughout the entire process.
Divorce and finances
Making arrangements for your finances in the wake of divorce can often be a complex process. This is where the support and guidance of our solicitors will be critical, helping you to reach a resolution as efficiently as possible, while also ensuring the final settlement is fair.
Our divorce solicitors provide practical and confidential advice in relation to divorce and finances, ensuring that you are able to achieve financial security for yourself and your family. Our divorce finance team include accredited experts who are specifically trained to handle cases which involve businesses, pensions, and property assets.
Collaborative law
Collaborative law provides an alternative to court proceedings for a wide range of family law matters. This includes making an agreement for a financial settlement and arrangements for your children.
Our team have specialist collaborative law training, which we can use to help you reach the outcome you are looking for, no matter what that may be.
Your children
Whenever you are experiencing any type of disruption to your family life, your main priority will, understandably, will be that of your children. Whether you simply need to make arrangements for your children following a divorce, or you need detailed advice on issues such as financial support or parental responsibility, our child law experts will be on hand to lend their expertise.
With our support, you can be certain that the best interests of your child will be protected, and your rights as a parent will be upheld.
Prenuptial agreements
A prenuptial agreement can be an incredibly useful tool for helping you and your partner to clearly set out what will happen you your finances in the event that your marriage or civil partnership breaks down in the future.
While prenuptial agreements are not strictly legally binding, they do hold significant weight in court if they are correctly drafted and considered valid. Our solicitors can support you in drafting a watertight prenuptial agreement, as well as help you to respond to an agreement you have been prepared by your partner.
Domestic abuse
Domestic abuse can come in many forms. Regardless of your individual circumstances, options will be available to you, that our team can support you with.
We have a specialist domestic abuse team who have experience in handling injunctions and other work which is necessary to provide comprehensive protections to victims of all forms of domestic abuse.
Unmarried couples
Contrary to the popularly held belief, there is no such thing as ‘common law marriage’ in the UK. This means that unmarried couples are not afforded the same rights as their married counterparts during separation.
Our team can support disputes that arise between unmarried couples during separation, including Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (ToLATA) claims.
Cohabitation agreements
If you are living with your partner, but do not plan to get married, it is sensible to consider entering into a Cohabitation Agreement (also known as a Living Together Agreement).
An effectively drafted Cohabitation Agreement can save plenty of disruption and ensure that a separation remains as amicable as possible.
Separation agreements
There may be a scenario where you are considering ending your relationship but are yet to decide whether you would like to go ahead with a divorce. Where this is the case, it may be in your best interests to consider a Separation Agreement.
Our team can support you in drafting a bespoke Separation Agreement, detailing exactly what you would like to happen regarding your finances and children.
Social services
We understand that being involved with Social Services can be an incredibly stressful situation and may leave you wondering what will happen in both the short and long-term. Our family law team are here to support you through these proceedings, making sure that the welfare of your children is at the heart of every decision that is made.
We can offer assistance in collaborating with Social Services before any proceedings are issues, including attendance at Public Law Outline (PLO) meetings. If proceedings are subsequently issued, we can act for you throughout the entire process to ensure you receive effective representation.
Grandparents
It is not always immediately obvious what your legal rights are as a grandparent. That said, in some cases, the court system does recognise that orders can be granted to ensure that the important relationship between grandparents and grandchildren are preserved.
Our family law team can advise on various issues on behalf of grandparents, including parental responsibility, special guardianship orders and child arrangement orders.
Our family law fees
All of our family law services are normally provided according to a pre-agreed hourly rate. We offer various hourly rates depending on the level of experience of the person who is doing the work, with 20% VAT added to the hourly rate. The cost will therefore depend on how much time the matter takes and the level of expertise required.
You will be asked to pay an amount up front before the work starts and will then be billed on a monthly basis.
Some clients prefer to pay on an hourly rate basis because they know that they are paying for work actually done on their matter.
Pay as you go family law advice
If you are involved in Court proceedings and would like some advice without us acting for you throughout the proceedings, we can offer you a service where you pay for particular pieces of work.
This might be advice about preparing an application or Court statement, advice about how to prepare for a Court hearing or representation at a particular hearing. We may charge for this either on a Price Certainty or hourly rate basis (as outlined above).
Legal Aid for divorce and family law
Your circumstances may mean you are eligible for Legal Aid. If you would like to provisionally assess your financial eligibility, please click here.
Please also be aware that in many family cases there are now strict evidence requirements for Legal Aid in relation to Domestic Violence or Child Protection. This does not apply to applications for injunctions or applications made by Social Services.
Legal Aid Agency cyber-security incident
It has been widely reported that there has been a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) online resulting in a serious data breach. The LAA believes that the group behind it has accessed and downloaded a significant amount of personal data from those who have applied for legal aid through its digital service. This may have included the contact details and addresses of applicants, their dates of birth, national ID numbers, criminal history, employment status and financial data such as contribution amounts, debts and payments.
Following investigation, the LAA has confirmed that the data accessed contains information from 2007 to 16 May 2025. The LAA has further said that, in some instances, information about the partners of legal aid applicants may be included in the compromised data.
In May, the court granted an application made by the Lord Chancellor preventing the disclosure, publication or communication of information or data obtained from the LAA IT systems. On 4 June, a further injunction was granted by the court which continues the prohibition on the criminals responsible for the data breach publishing the information and also prevents third parties who know about the injunction from doing so (as to do so would undermine the injunction and amount to contempt of court). The LAA has said that it remains the case that there is no evidence to suggest that any of the data accessed has been published
At the outset, the LAA provided the following advice:
“We would urge all members of the public who have applied for legal aid in this time period to take steps to safeguard themselves. We would recommend you are alert for any suspicious activity such as unknown messages or phone calls and to be extra vigilant to update any potentially exposed passwords. If you are in doubt about anyone you are communicating with online or over the phone you should verify their identity independently before providing any information to them.”
Updates and guidance can be accessed on a dedicated page on the GOV.UK website – Legal Aid Agency cyber-security incident – GOV.UK – where the Legal Aid Agency says this:
“If you are, or have been, a recipient of legal aid and are concerned that you might be affected by this incident, and cannot find the information you need on this page, please contact our Customer Services Team on 0300 200 20 20. Opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday-Friday. Alternatively, email the Chief Executive’s Correspondence and Parliamentary Engagement Team at corporatecorrespondenceteam@justice.gov.uk.”
For those whose personal data may have been affected, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has guidance on how to respond to a data breach (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/data-breaches).
Useful links for family law matters
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