As a top 20 law firm with over 40 specialist lawyers across a network of national offices, the Irwin Mitchell team is regarded as a leading provider of family law services in the UK.

We specialise in providing expert advice in all areas of family law from high profile international divorces and financial settlements to children matters, pre-marital agreements and cohabitation disputes.

The IM family team has extensive experience in navigating clients through the complexities of their case, offering a sensitive but no-nonsense approach.

The size of the team allows us to provide the best advice, efficiently, and without compromise.

International Expertise Elizabeth Hicks and John Nicholson from the London office are Fellows of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and regularly undertake international family work.

Increasingly our work in the firm’s regional offices also involves an international aspect.

Based in City centre offices across the UK we regularly advise international high net worth and high profile individuals.

London

Elizabeth Hicks and John Nicholsonelizabeth.hicks@irwinmitchell.comjohn.nicholson@irwinmitchell.com

• ActedforaGreekhusbandinajurisdiction dispute between England and Switzerland involving the Lugano Convention in which we were successful in persuading the court that, despite the presence in England of the wife and the children of the marriage, the appropriate forum was Switzerland, whose court was the first seized• Recentlybroughtpressuretobearona party to a divorce to agree a more moderate settlement than she might have achieved in a contested hearing in England, having persuaded her solicitors that our client’s challenge to English jurisdiction, and the appropriatenessoftheCzechRepublicasa the forum was a credible one• Currentlyactinginacaseinwhichwehave put the wife’s English Domicile in question. Again, the hope is that we will be able to negotiate a more moderate settlement on behalf of the husband, although we are ready to take the case through the courts if that result is not obtained• ActedinthecaseofGoldstone[2011]EWCA Civ 39 now the leading case on joinder of third party companies to divorce proceedings. This involved bringing into the financialproceedingssome14respondents, ten of which were either English or foreign companies based in the BVI, St Vincent and theGrenadines,StLuciaandLichtenstein, and properties in Monaco and Verbier.

International Experience in theRegions We have summarised below some of the recent international work undertaken by the partners and teams in the different regions of England and Wales.

Manchester

Ros Bever Head of the Manchester family teamros.bever@irwinmitchell.com

• Representedthewifeinabigmoney contested financial remedy case involving numerous joined parties, hostile witnesses, parallel litigation in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and forensic investigations worldwide including Switzerland and the Middle East. Worldwide freezing injunctions were obtained and the matter went to the Court of Appeal three times. At the final hearing in the Family Division of the High Court, Baron J stated that our client was ‘fortunate’ in her choice of legal team. In the Court of Appeal, Thorpe LJstated‘Ihaveneverseena[financial] case of greater complexity’• RepresentedtheJapanesewifeonan application in England and Wales for leave to remove a child to Japan which was complicated by neither parent being British and their living in UK by circumstance of employment only. Expert advice was commissioned from Japanese lawyers and subsequent litigation/mediation in Japan was required.

Family

International Capability Document

Leeds

Peter Morris Head of the Leeds family teampeter.morris@irwinmitchell.com

• ActedforanEnglishwifeinahighvalue financial case with complex issues surrounding the Azerbaijani husband’s non- disclosure of his income, the effect of the double taxation treaty between UK and Azerbaijan, and the liquidity of the husband’s pension scheme further to a company administration• ActedforanAmericanhusbandmarriedto a senior American executive wife employed in the same corporation. In addition to dealing with substantial assets in the US and the UK, the case involved the relocation of the wife and the dependent child of the family and residence and contact issues in England and USA (San Francisco and Texas state law)• ActedfortheJordanianwifeofanEnglish husband in a case involving the wife’s application to relocate to Jordan with the parties’ three year old daughter. Consideration was given to Jordanian family law under the Jordanian civil code as well as Shari’a law principles. The case concluded inafivedaytrialintheHighCourt.Related financial proceedings involved dealing with Jordanian land and business assets (including a shopping centre) held in trust for the wife.

Birmingham

Nicola WalkerHead of the Birmingham family teamnicola.walker@irwinmitchell.com

• Actedforawifeinahighvaluecasewhere there was a dispute as to jurisdiction between the UK, France and Spain Proceedings were issued by the wife in the UK and husband in Spain. It was necessary for us to instruct Spanish lawyers to assist with obtaining a stay of the proceedings in Spain and to advise as to the likely orders the Spanish Courts could make. Within the proceedings freezing orders were made against the husband whose assets were scattered around the world including Uruguay and Panama and orders were obtainedagainstHMRCtoproducethe husband’s tax records. The wife successfully obtained an order that the UK had jurisdiction after a 5-day hearing in the High Court and a costs order against the husband• Actedforawifeinconnectionwithcontested divorce proceedings in the UK. During the proceedings it came to light that husband had issued further divorce proceedings in Iraq which would have caused our client (a Muslim woman) severe embarrassment and prejudice in her homeland of Iraq if allowed to proceed. In view of the above we successfully pursued an Hermaine Injunction to stay the proceedings in Iraq and obtained a costs order against the husband in respect of his actions.

Sheffield

Martin LoxleyHead of the Sheffield family teammartin.loxley@irwinmitchell.com

• Actedforanon-domiciliaryinthepreparation of a pre-nuptial agreement with assets of over£100MwherethewifewasaBritish resident. The pre-nup needed to be prepared in the UK and mirrored in Spain and Switzerland which required liaison with lawyers in those jurisdictions.

Bristol

Alison HawesHead of the Bristol family teamalison.hawes@irwinmitchell.com

• Actedforawifeinamulti-jurisdictionpre- nuptial agreement. The husband had assetsofover£140mincludingvarious company shareholds internationally and in particular in South Africa.

Irwin Mitchell Birmingham Bristol Leeds London Manchester Newcastle Sheffield

Irwin Mitchell Scotland Glasgow

Irwin Mitchell Consulting Office† Leicester

Irwin Mitchell Abogados Madrid Málaga

www.irwinmitchell.com

† Consultations are by appointment only.IrwinMitchellLLPisauthorisedandregulatedbytheSolicitorsRegulationAuthority.ItsassociatedfirmIrwinMitchellScotlandLLPisaseparateScottishlegalpracticewhichisregulatedbytheLawSocietyofScotland.

Family

Family Dispute Resolution

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