Family law solicitors in Cannock

Most people who call us are not ready to start anything. They want to know where they stand, what it might cost and whether the thing they are worried about is as bad as it feels at two in the morning. That is a perfectly good reason to book an appointment.

You will not be asked to commit to a course of action in the first meeting. You will not be pushed towards court. What you will get is a straight account of your position, the options in front of you, and what each one is likely to involve in time and in money.

Our Cannock family team advises on divorce and separation, arrangements for children, financial settlements, cohabitation disputes and agreements made before or during a marriage. We act for people across Cannock, Hednesford, Norton Canes, Heath Hayes, Great Wyrley, Rugeley and the villages around Cannock Chase.

If it turns out you do not need a solicitor yet, we will tell you that too.

Arrangements for children

Where the children live, how much time they spend with each parent, holidays, schooling and what happens when one of you wants to move. Most of these are settled without a judge ever seeing them, and that is very much the aim. Where agreement is genuinely not possible, or where there are welfare concerns, the court can make an order to resolve it. More on arrangements for children.

Divorce and separation

Since the no-fault rules came in, nobody has to blame anybody. The application itself is now handled online through the national court service and is largely administrative. The part that actually needs a solicitor is everything running alongside it: the finances and the children. Getting divorced does not settle either of those, and a surprising number of people find that out too late. More on divorce and separation.

Financial settlements

Dividing what you have built up together. In Cannock that usually means the family home, any mortgage on it, pensions and debts, rather than complex investments or business holdings. Pensions are the asset most often overlooked, and for a couple in their forties or fifties a pension can be worth more than the house. We will make sure it is valued properly rather than waved through. More on financial settlements.

Cohabitation and separating without marrying

There is no such thing as a common law marriage, however long you have lived together. If your name is not on the deeds, you may have far less protection than you assume, and the law here is genuinely harsh. We advise on what you can claim, on agreements that set things out before there is a dispute, and on claims made on behalf of children. More on separating from an unmarried partner.

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements

Worth considering if one of you is bringing property, a business, an inheritance or children from an earlier relationship into the marriage. These agreements are not automatically binding in England and Wales, but a court will usually follow one that was entered into properly, with both sides advised and enough time before the wedding. The timing matters, so speak to us early. More on prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements.

Our office is at Commerce House on Ridings Park, just off Eastern Way. It is not in the town centre, and that is deliberate. There is free parking on site. Opening hours, directions and the people based there are on the page for our Cannock office.

That sounds like a small thing. It is not. A first family law appointment is usually something you attend alone, often straight from work, often after a bad few weeks. Not having to find a space, feed a meter or watch the clock is one less thing. It is also why clients from Hednesford, Norton Canes, Heath Hayes, Great Wyrley and Rugeley tend to find us easier to reach than a town centre firm.

Settlements here often come down to three things: the family home, the mortgage on it and the pensions. That does not make these cases simpler. It makes the pension more important, because when there are only two or three assets on the table, getting one of them wrong is not a detail.

Most family matters never see a courtroom at all. Divorce applications are handled centrally through the national online service, with no hearing unless something is disputed. We will tell you at your first appointment which category you are likely to be in, because it changes both the timescale and the cost.