My name is Sheryl Perry and I am a Solicitor and owner of Berrington Exceptional Law Ltd.
We have three solicitors including myself and a paralegal covering the legal work. We cover family law, child law, litigation, commercial leases, debt claims and business law.
I personally specialise in Family and Child Law.
Divorce/Dissolution
This is the process to terminate a marriage/civil partnership. Currently there is only one ground for divorce and that is irretrievable breakdown. From there you have to prove one of the following five limbs:
- Adultery
- Unreasonable behaviour
- Desertion
- Two year with Consent
- Five year separation
There are three stages to the procedure, the issue of the petition which starts the procedure. Once issued by the court it will be sent to the Respondent who will need to complete an Acknowledgement of Service and return to the court. Once this is received then the Decree Nisi can be applied for. This is not the final order, but is the stage of the divorce where you then apply for the Financial Order. The final order is the Decree Absolute and this terminates the marriage.
We can undertake fixed fee divorces and offer this service initially where there will not be too much confrontation between the parties. We can start on fixed fee and if there is huge disagreement this will go onto our hourly rates.
Separation Agreements
These are used where the parties have separated but do not wish to file for a divorce/dissolution at the time. It is a written agreement detailing the financial arrangements between the parties and can cover issues such as who will pay the mortgage/household bills, who will live in the family home, whether or when it will be sold, what happens to the contents of the house, any savings or debts etc.
These documents are not legally binding, although if drafted correctly are persuasive.
Finances
To conclude finances following a divorce, you will need a sealed Order from the court (Financial Remedy Order). This document becomes legally binding following the Decree Absolute. Without concluding finances this way your ex spouse can make a financial claim against you in the future.
Since the case of Vince v Wyatt, the previous six year time bar was overturned and the Supreme Court ruled that there was no time limit for making a claim against an ex spouse. Following on from this case it is crucial that finances are concluded by a sealed court order.
Prenuptial and Post Nuptial Agreements
These should be looked upon as an insurance policy for your marriage – like car and house insurance, they are not taken out because you are sure you will need them, but instead because they are there as a safety net. Prenuptial Agreements are the same and will only come into play if the marriage fails.
They are crucial where one party has more assets that the other party. Without one of these agreements, if you subsequently divorce, all assets will be taken into account and your child/children can potentially miss out.
Pre-nuptial agreements are not legally binding at present, but they are legally persuasive and following the Radmacher case, providing the safeguards and criteria set out in this case has been followed the agreements are likely to be upheld if challenged.
Trust Deeds
These are legally binding documents which detail the financial contributions and interests of both owners of the property and anyone else who has a financial interest in the property. They detail how any financial contribution can be recovered in the future and allows for the money to be ring fenced and protected against a future claim. A Deed of Trust can be used to protect money that has been gifted to help purchase the property as well.
A Deed of Trust can set out how much each party has paid into the property and what happens if they split up or the property is sold in the future. Without a Deed of Trust any money put into the property as a deposit will be held jointly and in equal shares.
Cohabitation Agreements
These agreements are used when parties are living together and are legally binding. They specify who owns what in the property and sets out who is responsible for what financial contribution.
Child Law
When two parents separate, they either agree who the children live with and how and when the other party sees them. If they cannot agree then an application will need to be made to mediate the matter, which if the matter is still not settled then the application will need to be placed into court with one party completing the form C100.
If there was/is domestic violence then the matter can be placed straight into court and the additional form C1A needs o be completed as well.
There was significant changes in this area of law with the new Child Arrangements Orders. These replace the old residence and contact orders with Orders covering where the children will live and when they will spend time with the non resident parent.
Prohibited Steps Orders are used to forbid someone from doing something, such as one party wishing to take the child/children out of the country for a holiday or to prevent them from changing a child’s name, following a certain religion or attending a certain school.
Specific Issue Orders on the other hand can be applied for to request a child attends a specific school, follows a certain religion or attends an event/holiday.
Prior to making these applications the parties need to have Parental Responsibility. If someone wishes to make an application and doesn’t have Parental Responsibility then they will need to apply to the court for this first. We can also help if parties have agreed contact but require the security of having it sealed by the court.
Berrington Law can help with this.
Business Law
We offer services from dealing with Start Up companies to making sure you have everything in place before you start trading, to small and medium businesses that have already started trading and run into issues.
Our Services will take you from the beginning to the end of your daily processes and include:
- Company Formation
- Shareholders Agreements
- Partnership Agreements
- Terms and Conditions of Trade
- FREE Access to our Network of Professional Service Providers
- Commercial Leases and Premise Licenses
- Debt Recovery (Domestic and Cross Border)
- Contracts and Contract Disputes
- Civil Litigation
- Companies Act matters
- Data Protection and GDPR issues
Litigation
This covers any dispute between two or more parties, such as property/boundary disputes, consumer disputes, debt claims.
Commercial Leases
Kim Joseph-Charles is our specialist in Landlord and Tenant Act matters and deals with all matters relating to the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954.
In addition, to this she covers the following
- Commercial Leases
- Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements
- Landlord and Tenant Disputes
- Deposit Recovery
- Rent Arrears
- Doubling Service Charge Claims
- Landlord Licenses
- Sub-Letting Arrangements
We offer a free half hour initial interview at our offices to discuss any matters.
If you require any further information please contact us on:
- Tel: 0800 319 6336
- Email: office@berringtonlaw.co.uk