Family law - free consultation

16 October 2020

As a Police Federation member you’re entitled to an initial free consultation at a time convenient to you. The consultation provides an opportunity to discuss your situation, set out your options and empower you to make decisions. What is a consultation? We offer a meeting, which can either be face to face or over the telephone, for up to one hour with an experienced family law solicitor. This is an opportunity for you to speak in confidence with a specialist who has in-depth knowledge of all areas of family law, including children, finances and divorce. (The fixed fee will not include a review of documents in advance of the meeting or any work beyond the initial meeting). The benefits of a consultation We’ll take the time to understand the full history of your situation and provide a holistic approach covering any areas which may be inter-related to ensure you get the maximum benefit during the hour. This will enable you to fully understand your legal position from the outset in an easily digestible format and the options that are available to you. During the hour you can expect your lawyer to:

• Discuss the details of your circumstances to get a full understanding of your position and identify any distinct issues
• Provide an explanation of your legal position, the legal process involved and the options available to you.
• Summarise the issues and the application of the law to those issues.
• Provide a summary of the options available to you and advise as to the pros and cons of each.
• Empower you to take any necessary actions by providing you with a clear roadmap of what your next steps are
• Give an explanation of the pricing structure for any chosen route.

Preparing for the consultation in advance? To ensure you get the most out of the consultation it helps to gather the following details and documents together beforehand:

• Date you started living together
• Date you got married
• If you have it, your Marriage Certificate
• Dates of birth for both you and your ex-partner
• Date you finally separated
• Details of children, including full names and dates of birth.
• Summary of assets, income and liabilities, e.g. the value of your home, the amount outstanding on your mortgage, how much you have in savings/investments, how much you and your ex-partner earn, how much you each owe on credit cards/loans, what pension provision you have etc. Following the initial free consultation we offer members a fixed fee divorce and discounted hourly rates.

We hope the information above helps to explain the value we can provide. All our family lawyers are members of Resolution and are committed to adopting an amicable, constructive advice and non-confrontational approach to separating families. Where this isn’t possible or appropriate, we’ve the skills and experience to guide you through the litigation process. We look forward to assisting you. If you’d like to arrange a free initial consultation with a specialist family lawyer from Slater and Gordon please contact us on 0808 175 7710 and we’ll be happy to help.