Family Law

Separation, Divorce and Family Law Advice from our award winning Family Law Team.

If you are separating from your spouse or partner and/ or need advice about issues affecting children, then our expert family law team can help. From our bases in Inverness and Portree we offer advice and support to clients throughout the Highlands and beyond.

We understand that separation and divorce will affect you and your family. Many important and difficult decisions have to be made on separation, which can add to the stress of your situation. Issues relating to children (residence/custody and contact/access), money and property need to be resolved in the best way possible, for you and your family. You need good advice from your solicitor to guide you through these difficult times.

We are a multi-award winning team of family law solicitors based in the Highlands and have been advising clients on matters of family law for over 60 years. We have extensive experience and expertise in this area and appear regularly in Courts throughout the Highlands, Islands and Moray.

Fiona Campbell and Jenna Thomson are accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as family law specialists and our team is able to give you the expert advice you need in the following areas:-

• Separation and Divorce
• Child Law, including contact/access with or residence/custody of children
• Parental Rights and Responsibilities (mother’s rights/father’s rights/grandparents’ rights)
• Adoption and cases before the Children’s Hearing system.
• Protective Orders (domestic abuse interdicts/non-harassment orders/stalking prevention)
• Pre Nuptial and Cohabitation Agreements

Court Action

If Court action is needed our family lawyers have the skills needed to effectively represent you in Court.

In addition, our specialist solicitors are able to discuss with you different ways to deal with your family law issues. We offer all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”), namely Collaboration, Mediation and Arbitration.

Collaboration

In Collaboration, each person has his or her own collaborative family lawyer to advise and assist in negotiating an agreement on all issues. All negotiations take place in “four way settlement meetings” that both clients and collaborative family lawyers attend. All parties agree not to go to Court or threaten to go to Court, settlement is the only agenda and the threat of going to Court is removed. Each client has built-in legal advice and representation during negotiations and each collaborative family lawyer’s job includes guiding the client towards fair agreement. All the decisions are made by the clients themselves. Once an agreement is reached the collaborative family lawyers prepare a binding written agreement (Separation Agreement). A straightforward divorce will then follow.

Mediation

A solicitor mediator can help you and your spouse or ex partner reach an agreement about the arrangements for children and/or financial issues, following on from your separation. The solicitor mediator will not take sides but will help you and your partner make the decisions. If there are children involved, their needs and wishes can also be discussed. Mediation is possible whether or not you are married. It is also an option where there are no children and it is only financial issues that need to be dealt with.

Arbitration

Arbitration allows disputes to be resolved by an expert Arbiter chosen by the parties, as an alternative to raising Court proceedings. The parties enter into an agreement to arbitrate which sets out the issue(s) to be decided. The parties agree to be bound by the decision of the Arbiter, which decision is then enforceable. Unlike Court the process is confidential and the parties can choose the Arbiter and where/when the Arbitration takes place. It is the closest to Court action within the range of ADR solutions available to clients. All family law arbitrators must be specialists in their field and members of the Family Law Arbitration Group (Scotland).

We can offer a full range of legal services from our bases in Inverness and Portree. If as a result of your separation you need advice from a non-family law solicitor, we have the expertise to help, all under one roof. If you are a business owner, we have a commercial law team on hand to help. If you need to sell your house, we have a dedicated estate agency team and experienced solicitors to advise you. If you are a crofter, our rural land team can provide tailored advice. If you want to make a Will or cancel an existing Will on separation, our private client team can help.

Our rates are competitive and, for certain matters, we offer legal aid. For more information please contact us.

Family Law FAQ

See the video below for the answers to some common questions we receive about family law.