Many people are under the impression that all family lawyers in Guildford, Surrey are exactly the same. Here at Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors we could not disagree more!
We care passionately about each and every one our clients and we will always treat you as an individual. After all, your situation is personal to you, so we will always listen and give clear and practical guidance, that’s right for you and your own situation. We will never assume the details of your case and will always work to achieve a result that is right for you.
When your relationship reaches the point that you come to a final decision to divorce or separate, or if your partner has made the decision to end your relationship, then this will obviously evoke many emotions and reactions from both of you. You will encounter feelings that you have never experienced before and you may be completely overwhelmed with the whole situation. How you handle the breakup, and resolve all the issues entangled with it, will impact on your futures and how well you can move forward without each other.
You will want to seek the services of a reputable lawyer, one who can explain your rights in a way you can understand and who will guide you through the process, making sure you are aware of all options and choices open to you, prior to having to make any big decisions. Using our unique legal and psychological approach our aim is to, where possible, encourage and facilitate conversations between both parties in a non-combative and peaceful environment. This will help to resolve matters swiftly between you both, without unnecessary arguments and acrimony and will also help you to communicate effectively for the future. Our priority will be to help you avoid conflict, especially if there are children involved. We will always encourage dialogue where it is appropriate and will be pro-active in negotiation in an attempt to resolve matters in a way that will save you time, money and stress. This joint legal and psychological approach has consistently resulted in early settlement in our clients' favour, thereby saving you costs. When there are children involved and therefore ongoing communication with each other will be necessary, then it is important to maintain a non-confrontational relationship with each other moving forward. As experienced family lawyers in Guildford we will always act with your best interests at heart and keep you fully informed of your choices at all stages.
It is important to bear in mind that your children deserve the best, happiest and most secure childhood that you can possibly provide them with, preferably with both parents in their lives, circumstances dependant. For your children to witness hostilities between the pair of you will both confuse and distress them, so is best avoided at all costs. Your children should be both of your priorities at this time and you should both want them to feel secure and comforted, at a time of great upset for them too. They will not understand the complex emotions that everyone is dealing with and can become very distressed witnessing your conflict. They should also be protected from hearing either parent speaking negatively about the other, or to be privy to the details of your separation. You should also avoid posting things on social media and/or insulting them to family and friends. You can both agree on how to sit the children down to discuss the changes that will be happening to the family unit, but it is important to make sure they know how their futures will be changing. They will need to know who and where they are living and also if their school and friendships groups will be changing. It is good if both of you can be there for this conversation, to show them a united front, and to allow them plenty of time to digest the information you give them and to allow them to ask you as many questions as they need to, to enable them to feel secure. Do not speak to them just before bedtime, or in the car on the way to school for example, as they will have many questions for you, some which you won’t have anticipated! And make sure that any information given to them and discussed over the coming days, weeks, months is consistent – they may ask the same things over and over again, so be patient as they obviously need to hear the same answer for reassurance.
Take time to yourself at this time too. It is important to focus on yourself and your emotions and to understand there will be a time when this is over and sorted and your new future will be beginning. It is understandable that it may not be the future you either wanted or envisaged for yourself and your family, but it does not mean that you need to beat yourself up about it or that you have failed in any way. Your new future is in YOUR hands and so you have a clean slate with which to start and make it the best one you can for you all. Any emotions are totally normal at this time and you will go through many that you didn’t expect, you may not even recognise yourself some days as emotions can totally overwhelm you. People can act out of character going through a separation and behave in a manner they do not mean and a lot of hurtful things can be said and done in the heat of the moment. As expert family lawyers in Guildford we can help you through all of this and help you to see that these are all totally normal to experience, but that you will settle down into your new future and make it your own in due course. Give yourself time to see you as an individual again.
Keeping calm and objective when discussing things can help to resolve issues quicker and, whilst it may not always be possible, remaining amicable can give you all a sense of security and peace of mind that you can have non-confrontational conversations to sort these issues out. No-one benefits if every meeting needs to be hostile and combative in nature, it will cloud your judgement if you just wish to disagree with the other party, no matter how reasonable their suggestions may be. This could have repercussions down the road, as any court decisions taken will always put your children’s welfare first, so you need to be able to reach agreements between your ex-partner rationally.
When discussing settlements, be realistic in what you hope to achieve. It is unlikely that you will get everything you wish and any settlement must be fair to both parties, whatever your personal feelings. Be open to compromise where necessary and make sure you aren’t disagreeing purely to point score on things and hurt your ex-partner.
When it comes to financial disclosure there is only one rule – be honest! If it is discovered you are trying to hide or dispose of assets without your ex-partner’s knowledge the court will always take an extremely dim view of this and the repercussions will be serious. Start by working out what you own together and separately, get valuations on everything and come to the table ready to discuss how to divide them fairly. Be completely transparent so there can be no recourse in the future.
You will always find us to be friendly, professional and thorough in liaising with you about your own personal family law situation. We will take time to gain a thorough understanding of the details important to you and will guide and support you throughout the process. We will always keep you fully informed of the details at all times.
Our experienced family lawyers have earned an enviable reputation for achieving excellent results on behalf of our clients and have a wide area of expertise in dealing with all the complex issues surrounding family law. Our testimonials speak for themselves. We aim to avoid a lengthy and costly case at this time of heightened emotions and will always act with your best interests at heart.
Gregorian Emerson Family Law Solicitors are expert family lawyers in Guildford, Surrey who have proudly been helping individuals and families for many years to achieve positive and favourable solutions to their family law matters.
If you would like to speak with one of our specialist family lawyers in Guildford please call us on 01483 826470
