International Family Law

The world is getting smaller. Our specialist international family law solicitors can help you with:-

• International divorce
• Offshore assets on divorce
• International children disputes

We are members of MSI Global Alliance, an international association of 250 independent member firms of lawyers and accountants in more than 100 counties.

This enables our solicitors to quickly source reliable, local expertise from anywhere in the world, which can be useful when we are dealing with international matters.

International divorce is a complex area, as financial and other outcomes can differ depending on which country proceedings are issued.

In international family law, the fact that a marriage took place in a particular country does not mean that the divorce also has to take place in that country.

Even though a couple may have mainly lived in England, it may be advantageous for one of the parties to issue divorce proceedings in another country, where there is a connection to that country.

In most cases, once an international divorce has started in one jurisdiction, that is where all decisions regarding finances and, in some cases, children, will take place.

It is common to find parties to a marriage involved in a race for the jurisdiction of their choice. Court proceedings may be issued in England, provided that the spouse who issues has a connection with England, either by virtue of being born here, or having established habitual residence for 6 months or more.

The English legal system has a reputation for being especially lenient towards the least wealthy spouse and can grant much higher financial award comparative to other jurisdictions.

In some instances, time may be of the essence where there are competing jurisdictions in which proceedings can be issued. If there is an international element to your relationship, you should speak to one of our solicitors as soon as possible.

We can advise you on the best place to issue proceedings and make sure that you protect yourself and your assets.

Financial matters on divorce can become more complicated where one or both parties have offshore assets.

The Courts in England and Wales do not have any jurisdiction (or ‘power’) to make orders against property which is held in another country.

That said, the very existence of foreign property is likely to impact on the financial split. For example, the spouse with foreign property may agree to transfer more of the UK property to the other spouse on the basis that they retain their foreign property.

Unfortunately, spouses may transfer money overseas or own offshore property or other assets, without the other spouse knowing. It is therefore important that you investigate the existence and nature of the international assets as far as possible, so that urgent steps can be taken to protect those assets and to prevent them from being dissipated.

We recognise that international cases require speedy and specialist input at an early stage.

We regularly assist clients from all over the world with complex divorce, financial and child relocation disputes.