Children (domestic)

Penningtons Manches Cooper's highly ranked family law team provides a child-focused and discreet service for parents, step-parents, grandparents and alternative families designed to promote agreement and maintain the privacy of the family. Our strength is our ability to harness our vast range of experience to provide solutions tailored to each family’s unique needs.

Our specialists, who are based in our offices in London, Oxford, Reading and Guildford, take particular pride in their sensitive and practical approach to cases involving children and can advise on all issues and aspects of law relating to children, both domestically and in an international context.

In a domestic context, we aim to help separating couples reach agreement about how their children should best be looked after and to find suitable mediators and family therapists to enable them to achieve this. All of our specialists, including our trained mediators and collaborative lawyers, can help parents negotiate with one another to arrive at shared care arrangements that will work best for their children. If an agreement cannot be reached, we represent parents in court proceedings.

We have particular expertise in advising and representing parents, same sex families and other interested parties such as step-parents and grandparents on complex issues of parental responsibility as well as practical arrangements such as where a child should go to school, what surname they should have and what religion they should follow. 

We have a wealth of experience in resolving cases where parents are suffering from mental health difficulties or drug or alcohol addiction. We are also regularly involved in cutting-edge cases involving allegations of physical and sexual abuse and parents who have differing views about medical treatment, religious upbringing or education of a child.

A member of our team sits on Resolution's Children Committee which shapes and influences law and policy in relation to children issues.

We offer an online system that can help our clients to understand their legal position, prepare for their first meeting, and provide us with the information required to maximise the value we can deliver. We invite you to get started online.