In line with Government guidelines for safe working during the COVID pandemic, access to our office is strictly by a pre-arranged appointment only, and only where absolutely necessary. We are open for business with some staff working in the office and others from home, they can still be contacted in the usual way either by telephone or email.
In respect of your pre-arranged appointment, if you develop symptoms of COVID, or have in the last 14 days come into contact with someone with COVID or symptoms of, we ask that you contact the office by telephone/email to arrange a new appointment or discuss if there is an appropriate alternative to your meeting.
The safety of our staff and clients is of paramount importance to us and so thank you for your continued co-operation during these unprecedented times.
Family & Divorce
Specialising in Matrimonial Law, Samantha Chater qualified as a solicitor in 1996. She has a wealth of experience in acting for clients in divorce, Children Act matters, the division of marital finances, injunctions where clients have been the victim of domestic violence and cohabitee disputes. Her years of experience have been recognised by her acquiring two solicitor accreditations.
Samantha is an accredited member of Resolution and as such adheres to a code of practice that promotes a non-confrontational approach to a case and is committed to a constructive way to resolve matters for her clients.
Samantha is also an accredited member of The Law Society Children Panel and has represented parents and children in complex Children Act Disputes. Samantha has had one of her cases reported on when it went to the Court of Appeal on a significant issue as to whether an alleged perpetrator of abuse could cross-examine the alleged victim or whether the state should fund an advocate to do so.
Samantha is committed to efficiently delivering the best result for her clients and as cost-effectively as possible. She says “I appreciate the tremendous strain that clients are under at this stressful time in their life and try to alleviate that by representing my clients through what can be a complicated process in a sympathetic manner”.
Samantha does offer clients a free initial consultation to enable them to understand what their options are and the cost associated with the work needed. She also offers telephone appointments where possible for clients’ convenience as she appreciates life is busy and there are many competing demands on peoples time. Where a face to face meeting is required the firm does offer free parking to clients on-site.
Samantha is well known and well established in her field particularly for her professionalism, commitment, hard work and for being approachable. Consequently, she enjoys a number of recommendations from previous clients and other professionals.
Accredited member of Resolution
Accredited member of The Law Society Children Panel
Divorce is the legal process to end or dissolve a marriage, which is carried out by the Family courts. The procedure begins with a divorce petition and ends with a decree absolute, which dissolves the marriage. It does not of itself resolve disputes about the marital finances or the children. Those aspects need to be dealt with separately and are explained as part of our further blogs. Most...
At times a parent with care of the child may stop the other parent from having contact with the child for no other reason than what he or she has already argued in the past and the other parent feels they now have to bring enforcement proceedings because of a breach of the order. In that situation the Court is not going to tolerate a parent withholding contact for the same reasons that have been...