Family & Matrimonial

We can assist you on all issues surrounding the breakdown of a relationship.   This will include assisting you in dividing your assets following divorce or separation.    We are also able to offer advice to unmarried couples on their rights once a relationship comes to an end.

We have extensive experience in cases where assets are held in complex trusts and company structures

We are also able to advise third parties who are caught up in divorce proceedings, such as family members who have made loans or advanced property to divorcing or separating couples.

We can assist you with arrangements for children on divorce or separation, both in terms of financial provision and living arrangements.    We also assist unmarried couples with the financial and other arrangements for their children.  We can advise and represent on injunctions to prevent a child being removed from Jersey without your consent.

Our team can assist with ongoing issues concerning children following divorce or separation, including

• Where one party wishes to take a child to live outside Jersey
• Where there is disagreement about a child’s upbringing, such as their education
• Applying to the Court to prevent one parent taking action in respect of a child which the other does not agree with. This can involve taking emergency Court action at short notice if necessary.

Many couples decide that they wish to regulate their finances either before they get married or once they are married.    We can advise as to the effectiveness of pre- or post-nuptial agreements and can assist with the drafting of such documents.   When a relationship breaks down, we can advise you on whether a Court would enforce an agreement that you and your partner have entered into.

We provide advice and assistance to parties who are involved in divorce proceedings in other jurisdictions and who wish to obtain information about assets that are, or might be, held in Jersey.

We regularly make applications to the Court on behalf of parties and their legal advisers for disclosure of financial information from Jersey based banks and other institutions.   We can do so on an emergency basis, if necessary, particularly where it is feared that funds are at risk of dissipation.

We advise trustees and other professional advisers who find themselves caught up in divorce proceedings, in Jersey and elsewhere, as to the position to take in relation to those proceedings, particularly when faced with requests for information from a foreign Court.

Partner, Simon Thomas and Senior Associate James Sheedy frequently work together where assistance for foreign divorce proceedings in required in Jersey.

Recent experience of such assistance includes:

• Obtaining disclosure about another party’s assets from a bank or other financial institution;
• Tracing assets that might have been held in Jersey;
• Advice in relation to whether a trust is vulnerable to being attacked or varied in the course of divorce proceedings;
• Advising trustees on issues about disclosure of information to beneficiaries involved in a divorce;
• Advising trustees on what role to take in divorce proceedings;

Law firms and other professionals seeking such assistance benefit from the fact that the team is made up of lawyers who have hands-on experience in substantive financial remedy proceedings as well as in contentious trust litigation and asset recovery work.   Even where divorce proceedings are being conducted by others elsewhere, many of our clients find it invaluable to have Jersey lawyers who understand how divorce cases proceed through the courts and the substantive issues that arise.

Similarly, trustees and family offices caught up in divorce proceedings value advice given to them as trustees by a single team who, whilst being experts in trust law, also understand the law relating to matrimonial assets.

For more information on this area of the family team’s work please contact Simon Thomas or James Sheedy .

Spouses and partners can find their property at risk of confiscation or forfeiture by law enforcement authorities, whether in Jersey or overseas.   This might be because of your partner’s alleged criminal conduct and/or conviction before the criminal courts.   We can advise spouses who are caught up in criminal confiscation or civil forfeiture proceedings as to the steps they should take to protect their interests.