Gay and lesbian couples now have the same rights to marriage as heterosexual couples, but there are still a number of unique considerations for LGBT+ families, making our expertise and experience in the area of LGBT+ family law highly valuable.
LGBT+ couples and families have many of the same legal issues to deal with as heterosexual couples, as well as various matters unique to same-sex relationships. Getting legal advice from solicitors with a history of dealing with LGBT+ family law ensures you get the best support for your family and that nothing is overlooked.
Crisp & Co has been working with LGBT+ families for many years, helping them to deal with the full range of issues affecting same-sex couples. This gives us a high level of expertise in the area of LGBT+ family law, meaning we can offer you peace of mind that you and your family are in safe hands.
Our LGBT+ family law services
Our expert LGBT+ family law solicitors can assist you with all aspects of the law relating to you and your family.
Divorce & civil partnership dissolution
If your relationship has broken down, we can help you apply for a divorce or dissolution of civil partnership, or respond to an application from your ex-partner. We will help you put together the strongest possible case, so you can secure your divorce or the end of your civil partnership as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Our specialist divorce and civil partnership solicitors can help you with all aspects of ending your relationship, including dealing with your finances, dividing your assets and making arrangements for any children you have together.
Pre-nuptial agreements & pre-registration agreements
If you are getting married, you may want to consider a pre-nuptial agreement. If you are entering a civil partnership, the equivalent is a pre-registration agreement. Both of these will specify what should happen to the assets belonging to both parties in the relationship if you later separate, and can specify procedural issues such as which party is to issue proceedings. This can remove a potential source of tension in your relationship and protect you if your relationship does ultimately end.
Living Together Agreements
If you are not ready to get married or enter a civil partnership, but do want to live together, a Living Together Agreement can define the terms of your cohabitation. This can include things such as what contributions each party will make to the rent or mortgage repayments, how bills will be divided and what rights both parties will have to shared assets if the relationship ends.
A Living Together Agreement is particularly worth considering if one of you owns a property into which the other is moving. If the non-owning partner contributes to the mortgage, they may be entitled to make a claim to a percentage of the value of the property if your relationship ends, so this is worth clearing up at the outset.
Adoption for same-sex couples
Single LGBT+ people and same-sex couples now have the same rights to adopt a child in the UK as single heterosexual people and couples. We can help guide you through all of the legalities of the adoption process, allowing you to expand your family and provide a home for a child who needs one.
Parenting arrangements
LGBT+ people can sometimes find themselves in complicated parenting situations, for example where they have children from a former heterosexual relationship, but are now in a same-sex relationship. A formal parenting agreement can help give everyone certainty about their role, rights and responsibilities, allowing a more stable and positive environment for children to grow up in.
Surrogacy and sperm donation
When two gay men use a surrogate to carry a child for them, or a lesbian couple ask a male friend to be a sperm donor, this can create confusion about what role the surrogate or donor will have in the child’s life. A formal agreement can clear up this confusion, giving everyone security and peace of mind.
LGBT+ family mediation and collaborative law
In many cases, family legal issues can be best resolved with mediation, rather than going to court. This involves all the involved parties sitting down with a trained mediator who will guide them towards a mutually acceptable agreement on how to resolve the situation. This is often the fastest, most cost-effective and least stressful way to resolve family legal matters, including divorce and civil partnership dissolution.
Another alternative to going to court is collaborative law, where each party has their own legal representative trained in collaborative law who will work with the other party/parties and their representative/s to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Our expertise in LGBT+ family law
Crisp & Co has a number of solicitors with a high level of experience and expertise in LGBT+ family law, including our Senior Partner, Henry Crisp. Many of our team are trained in mediation and collaborative law and are members of Resolution, an organisation dedicated to non-confrontational methods of dispute resolution. We also have many years’ experience representing LGBT+ clients in court, meaning we can always offer you the strongest, most-effective support for your legal issues.
Get in touch with our expert LGBT+ family law solicitors
The sooner you contact a solicitor for help with your family legal issues, the faster and more cost-effectively those issues can usually be resolved. Crisp & Co’s specialist LGBT+ family law solicitors can advise you on the full range of legal issues affecting your family, guiding you every step of the way from initial consultation through to resolution.
To speak to one of our LGBT+ family law experts, call us today on 0330 013 0381 or use the enquiry form below for a swift response.