"A caring professional service"

Hello, I am Alison Skene and I am a Solicitor with 17 years experience in Family Law.Why not read my interview with the Town Crier in our news section  to get to know me as a person.  

My Aim

"To help you through a difficult time in your life, in a caring, sympathetic, but realistic way, and to treat you in the same way as I would wish to be treated"  

How much will it cost?

We charge for all the work that I do on your file on an hourly basis. Family cases, particularly those involving a court case, can be lengthy, complicated and therefore expensive. It is not often possible to tell you at the start what the precise cost will be as it depends on what happens and how reasonably everyone behaves. I will do my best to give you an estimate of the likely cost as soon as I can. I will also keep you informed as the case proceeds. You can always agree a ceiling on costs, but this might mean I cannot finish your case without it being increased.

Legal Aid

My Promise to you:

1. I will always discuss all options open to you, your priorities and concerns
2. I will keep you informed of the costs involved in your case, and unlike some solicitors I will do all I can to stop them escalating
3. I will explain everything in a language that you can understand and relate to, keeping the use of legal expressions to an absolute minimum
4. I will be sensitive to your feelings, and not be dismissive of your fears and concerns
5. I will never boss you around, but I may be firm if this is in your best interests
6. I will not create unreasonable expectations for you which leave you disappointed with the outcome of your case
7. I will always try and take the heat out of the situation, and we will always consider the likely ramifications of any action before we take it
8. I will offer you practical solutions to problems tailored to your own needs and circumstances
9. I will abide by the Resolution Code of Practise, which seeks to achieve an amicable child focused settlement to cases if at all possible, and avoids conflicts and unpleasantness. You can find the code at http://www.resolution.org.uk/

Why Choose me?

Six Free Tips on a Breakup

1. Try to remain calm, and not to lose your temper; violence no matter how out of character could result in you being forced to move out, damage your relationship with the children, or affect your finances
2. Protect yourself; this might mean freezing the joint accounts, but only if the joint account holder refuses to agree to close them, or you fear money will be withdrawn from the account without your prior consent. Most banks or building societies will freeze the account, if they will not consider asking that any transactions on the account require both signatures, or that you be informed of them so you can take immediate action. Remember to ensure that you have adequate funds before you freeze the account. Take stock of all the assets you both have, if they are secretive, or you fear assets will be disposed of or salted away let me know immediately, as steps may need to be taken to prevent this
3. Notify your employer if you feel that the breakup may affect your work. You may need to increase your work hours to 16 hours a week for working tax credit, and check to see if you qualify for any benefits and if you do, use the calculators on their websites to work out approximately how much you will receive. For example for child tax credit, working tax credit visit http://www.taxcredits.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/Qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx, and CSA payments http://www.csa.gov.uk/. Start working out a monthly and annual budget, this will help you plan and it will help me with your case
4. Be honest with the children about the breakup, tell them in a way that they can understand (preferably together) what has happened, always emphasise that it is not their fault. See http://www.itsnotyourfault.org/.
5. Try and agree arrangements for the children, and always do your best to stick with them, the children need stability and reassurance that despite the breakup they are still loved, and the permission to continue to enjoy the same relationship they had before the breakup with both parents
6. Do not agree a settlement without discussing this with your solicitor first. If you agree a settlement then see a solicitor, and the settlement needs to be changed you may well find that what remained of the trust between you breaks down, and any changes cannot be agreed, no matter how reasonable. If you see a solicitor first you can still negotiate directly and come to an agreement between yourselves. You will know exactly the effect of what you are agreeing.