Solicitors and legal advice

A solicitor can give advice about the steps an abused person can take to protect himself or herself from Domestic Violence/Abuse. Public funding (formerly legal aid) may be available to assist with legal costs and many solicitors will give the first half an hour consultation free.

Solicitors can help victims with ongoing criminal proceedings as well as help accessing civil law (i.e. not criminal law). The most common ways of protecting people experiencing violence are court orders; they usually take the form of the following:

Occupation orders – prevent the perpetrator from entering the victim’s property, or going within a specified distance of this property. Orders of this kind can be applied for immediately without notice to the perpetrator (this is called an ‘ex-parte’ order).

Non-Molestation order – forbids a perpetrator from threatening, assaulting the victim (or other relevant behaviour), or inciting others to do so.

Power of arrest – can be attached to a court order that allows a police constable to arrest a perpetrator if they have reasonable confidence that an order has been broken. If there is no power of arrest and a breech occurs a solicitor has to request punishment on behalf of their client.

Solicitors will also give advice about the following matters:

• Child matters
• Divorce
• Matrimonial finances
• Conveyancing
• Personal injury
• Criminal defence

Legal advice and children

Children who are involved in legal proceedings are protected by the 1989 and 2004 Children’s Act that regulates how the law is applied to them. The most common legal issues regarding children are the following:

Parental responsibility (PR) is the collection of powers and duties that are part of parental rights and influence the way a child is brought up. These can include decisions regarding a child’s education, beliefs, and medical consent etc., Where a child’s parents were married at the time of his/her birth, then each parent shall have PR. Mothers always have PR.

An unmarried father can acquire paternal responsibility by:

• Applying for and obtaining a residence order.
• Applying to the court for a parental responsibility order.
• Making a parental responsibility agreement (in a set procedure) with a mother.
• Being appointed the child’s guardian (once the appointment takes effect).
• Subsequently marrying the mother of the child.

A step-parent may acquire parental responsibility by: 

• Obtaining a residence order.
• Adopting the child.

More than one person may have parental responsibility.

For children born after 1^st Dec 2003, if you are the father, but not married to the mother and your name is on the birth certificate, you will be granted automatic PR.

A parent, guardian or person who is named in a residence order may apply for orders of this kind. Courts will decide the outcome of orders by taking into account what action would be of benefit to the child concerned. They will also look at the feelings and wishes of the child, the needs of the child (be it educational etc), the effect of action on the child, or the effect of any change in their circumstances. The court will also examine the child’s background, age and gender, any harm they may have suffered and the capability of the child’s parent or guardian to meet their needs.