Charlotte Symes

Charlotte is a solicitor, collaborative practitioner and mediator. She deals with complex financial issues arising from divorce and separation. Her work has a strong international dimension. As a French speaker she has the expertise to advise French clients and on cases with a French element. She is recommended in The Legal 500 UK and The Spear’s 500 Index.

‘As no personal situation is the same, I believe it is crucial to listen to clients to understand their aims and aspirations so that I can provide the service they need. I work closely with my clients, ensuring that they remain in control of their case, while intelligently advising them through solicitor led negotiation, court litigation, arbitration, collaborative practice or mediation.’

EXPERTISE
Charlotte previously worked in corporate law at a City firm before moving into family law. Building on this background, Charlotte’s practice involves advising the owners (or their partners) of successful businesses and property portfolios with assets both in the UK and abroad, often within complex corporate structures.

Charlotte is recommended for her family law expertise in The Legal 500 UK 2021: ‘I chose Charlotte from personal recommendations and was not disappointed.’ Her ‘diverse and international’ practice is noted in The Spear’s 500 2020 Index which goes on to describe Charlotte as a solicitor who goes ‘out of her way to make what can be a painful process as stress free as possible.’
A graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge, Charlotte has an MA in French and German. She is a member of the Franco-British Lawyers Society, Resolution and the Family Mediation Council.

Charlotte’s practice involves advising on a broad range of family matters including:

• financial issues arising from divorce or the separation of cohabiting couples, often involving foreign jurisdictions, dealing with valuations of businesses, pensions and investments, tax issues, and the treatment of trusts;
• variation of spousal maintenance orders;
• pre- and post-nuptial agreements;
• cohabitation agreements;
• financial claims by parents in relation to children;
• parenting issues involving child contact and residence; and
• relocation of children both within England & Wales and abroad.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
Charlotte’s recent matters include:

• Contesting the jurisdiction of the English courts on behalf of a client living in France.
• Advising a French client on an English pre-nuptial agreement with advice from a French lawyer to ensure enforceability in both jurisdictions.
• Advising the beneficiary of a family trust in relation to a pre-nuptial agreement, to separate the trust from marital property.
• Advising the owner of a tech start-up company through divorce with issues surrounding the valuation of the business.
• Enforcing an order of the court of Massachusetts, USA, to secure the net sale proceeds of a property in England for a client.
• Negotiating a successful outcome for a client in contested court proceedings surrounding the beneficial ownership of the property of a non-married couple, and dealing with equitable accounting.
• Acting for clients with investments in schemes that are under investigation by HMRC, requiring complex financial orders to deal with potential tax liabilities and penalties.
• Representing clients through arbitration to achieve a legally binding decision within months (shorter timeframe than the court process).
• Advising an English client in relation to the request of the other parent to move with their children to France.

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