Christmas is fast approaching and as most parents will know it can be a very busy time of year. For separated parents, Christmas can become particularly fraught, especially if both parents to want to see the children on Christmas day and can’t agree on the arrangements. However, unless contact has already been pre-agreed in a formal separation agreement or through a Court Order, it will be up to the parents to agree how contact should be arranged themselves – often on a year-to-year basis. But what happens when parents can’t agree? Options There are a few options when it comes to trying to or ..read more

Adoption Week Scotland, 14th to the 18th November 2022 Adoption Week Scotland 2022 runs from 14th to 18th of November this year, with the aim of promoting and celebrating adoption.  The theme this year is ‘Adoption: The connection with past, present and future family’. What is Adoption? Adoption is the legal process used to have a person or couple legally recognised as a child’s parent/s.  Once completed, they will have full parental rights and responsibilities for the child instead of the child’s biological parents. The exception to this is when a step-parent is applying to adopt ..read more

Sophie: My Life at Amanda Wilson Family Law For the last six months, I have been working at Amanda Wilson Family Law as a legal secretary (covering for Alix who recently had a beautiful baby!) and I have loved every minute of it. My time is very sadly coming to an end as we look forward to Alix making her return to work so I thought I would share a little about what my job has entailed here and some of things I have learned about working in a family law firm. The Job A legal secretary’s job is a varied but important one. We are responsible for typing letters and emails from audio recordings ..read more

This week saw the introduction of one of the biggest reforms to divorce law in England and Wales in over fifty years. As of 6th April, separated couples now have the ability to apply for a “no-fault” divorce, without having to play the blame game. We looked at that in our earlier blog ‘Divorce: Whose Fault?’ So what is a no-fault divorce? The new law means that for couples in England and Wales wishing to divorce, they no longer have to blame the other (using the grounds of adultery, behavior or desertion), or wait 2 years (if the other spouse consents to the divorce) or five years (where t ..read more

Contact arrangements can be a difficult situation to navigate at the best of times for parents who have separated and this can be more so when it comes to special occasions such as Mother’s Day. Whilst many separated parents will be able to agree to term time and holiday contact arrangements, often other important celebrations are overlooked. Such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and birthdays. This can cause issues where the special day does not land on a parent’s pre-arranged contact day. So, what can be done if your special day doesn’t fall on the day that you are meant to have the children ..read more

Contact arrangements can be a difficult situation to navigate at the best of times for parents who have separated and this can be more so when it comes to special occasions such as Mother’s Day. Whilst many separated parents will be able to agree to term time and holiday contact arrangements, often other important celebrations are overlooked. Such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and birthdays. This can cause issues where the special day does not land on a parent’s pre-arranged contact day. So, what can be done if your special day doesn’t fall on the day that you are meant to have the children ..read more

As an all-female family law practice, to celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, we thought we would take a moment to recognise some of the notable women in law who inspire us to “break the bias.” These women have broken through the bias to become ‘firsts’ in their fields and have paved the way for the next generation of young female lawyers. It wasn’t until 1920 that University of Glasgow graduate, Madge Easton Anderson, became the first female solicitor who was allowed to practice law. Baroness Hale is another notable woman who has become a role model for many young women in law. She ach ..read more

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “break the bias’. So with that in mind, we thought we would take a look back at how family law in Scotland has developed in recent years, to protect and support women in society. It’s easy to take some of these legal developments for granted, but you might be surprised how recent some of them are. Yes, it’s “legal” but we will try to keep this brief! Local and Simplified Divorces In 1976, the law was changed to allow divorce by mutual consent – which remains one of the grounds of divorce to this day. In 1984 local Sheriff Courts were allowed to h ..read more

The first national “lockdown” in March 2020 caused many couples to press the accelerator on their relationship and move in together.  Perhaps without giving much thought to the legal implications.  One year on, in this mini-series, we will look at what cohabitation means, what happens if you separate and worse still, if one of you dies. Have you recently moved in with your partner? If so, you have joined the second largest family type in the UK. Cohabiting makes sense for many and, according to reports, a particularly attractive prospect for couples during lockdown. Faced with eithe ..read more

If you are thinking of separating you might worry that you will have to go to court to sort things out. Thankfully however, for the majority of couples, that isn’t the case and court is very much a last resort. There are lots of better options available to help you to resolve matters, often referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has recently stated that he wants to make better use of ADR and in particular, mediation for family matters. He has argued that ADR should be used before thinking of going to court in order to free up court time for cases t ..read more