FAQs
Key questions clients ask when navigating complex family issues
Questions You May Be Asking
When facing separation, divorce, or complex financial and parenting arrangements, it’s natural to feel uncertain about your rights, your obligations, and the future. Family law adds additional layers of complexity, from business interests to inherited wealth and international structures. These FAQs bring together the questions we’re most commonly asked, helping you understand the legal landscape and the strategic steps that can safeguard your family, your finances, and your long-term stability.
Paradigm Family Law – Frequently Asked Questions
How do I protect my wealth and assets during a divorce?
High-value divorces often involve homes, businesses, trusts, pensions, inherited wealth, farms, and international structures. The English courts require full and frank disclosure, so the strongest protection comes from early strategic advice, clear financial planning, and understanding how the court will view your assets.
We specialise in safeguarding complex wealth, ensuring transparency, and putting robust strategy in place from day one.
See more: Financial Settlement |Â Asset Protection & Tracing |Â Innovation
Can my spouse hide assets—and how do you find them if they try?
Attempts to hide or dissipate assets are common in high-value and complex cases. We trace assets across companies, trusts, offshore structures, digital holdings, and financial records.
Our approach combines legal expertise, forensic analysis, and advanced technology to identify gaps, inconsistencies, and hidden value — and to bring it into the financial settlement.
See more: Financial Settlement |Â Innovation | Library (Non-Disclosure & Standish)
What happens to the family home and additional properties?
Property is at the heart of many divorces. The court will consider each party’s housing needs, contributions, liquidity, and how the properties were acquired.
Where multiple homes, investment properties, or international real estate are involved, specialist valuation and careful strategy are essential to reaching a fair division.
How is a business valued and divided in a divorce?
Where a business is involved, the court must determine what portion of its value is matrimonial and what portion is non-matrimonial (pre-marital, inherited, or externally invested).
This requires expert valuation, careful analysis of cash flow and liquidity, and a strategy that balances the business’s sustainability with the financial needs of both parties.
See more: Financial Settlement
How are pensions valued and divided?
Pensions can be one of the most valuable assets in a marriage, often exceeding the equity in the family home. They must be properly valued — usually with the help of a specialist actuary — to determine how they should be shared or offset.
Options include pension sharing orders, earmarking, or offset arrangements as part of a broader financial settlement.
See more: Financial Settlement
Are pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements binding?
Pre- and post-nuptial agreements are not automatically binding in England & Wales, but courts now give them significant weight if:
- both parties received independent legal advice,
- there was full financial disclosure, and
- the agreement is fair and meets needs.
For HNWI/UHNWI and international families, these agreements are highly effective in managing expectations and protecting wealth.
See more: Pre- & Post-Nuptial Agreements | International Services
What is a Schedule 1 application and when would I need one?
Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989 allows a parent — including unmarried parents — to seek financial provision for children. This may include housing, maintenance, school fees, childcare costs, or lump sums for specific needs.
Schedule 1 is particularly important for families with significant wealth or complex living arrangements.
See more: Child Arrangements
What is TOLATA — and when is it relevant?
The Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) deals with disputes over property ownership between unmarried couples, cohabitees, family members, and farming families involved in generational land arrangements.
These cases often involve beneficial interests, trusts, contributions, and equity arguments. Specialist advice is essential.
See more: Civil Partnership & TOLATA
Who gets our pet if we divorce?
In English law, pets are treated as chattels (personal property), not children. However, courts increasingly recognise the emotional importance of pets and will look at practical arrangements such as who has primary care, who purchased the pet, and what is in the pet’s welfare.
We negotiate agreements that reflect modern family life and the central role pets play.
See more: Library – Who Gets the Pet?
Do I need to go to court — or are there faster, more private alternatives?
Court is no longer the default, especially for high-value or complex cases. Private options offer speed, discretion, and control:
- Private FDRs
- Arbitration
- Mediation
- Early neutral evaluation
- Judge-led written assessments via whatwouldajudgesay.com
Most clients prefer resolving matters privately, with a senior expert providing a clear indication of likely outcomes.
See more:Â Alternative Dispute Resolution | Private FDR | whatwouldajudgesay.com
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