good practice

Non-married cohabiting relationships continue to increase year on year, so advising clients embarking on cohabitation, those already living together wanting to understand their ‘rights’ and those whose cohabiting relationship has broken down, will continue to form an increasing part of the workload of family lawyers. Until cohabitation law reform has been introduced to protect unmarried couples, this guide aims to assist Resolution members, their conveyancing lawyer and private client colleagues to manage these cases effectively, in accordance with our Code of Practice.

This Good Practice Guide will assist all our members including those who do not work solely as do...

With the reforms to family justice, cutbacks on legal aid and changes in behaviour in relation to the ways in which people approach family relationship breakdown, there has been a significant increase in the number of litigants in person and you should consider how your dealings with litigants in person will differ from those with another lawyer.

This guidance note provides an overview of working within the Code of Practice when faced with co...

This resource provides guidance to members dealing with suspected cases of female genital mutilat...

This good practice guide provides guidance about safeguarding children and young people for Resolution's members, their Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (COLPs), and others responsible for risk and compliance.

Issues regarding fertility law have increased significantly in the last few years and members are...

The family is not just heteronormative (straight) couples who have their own children; it likely ...

Surrogacy is an area of family law that is on the rise and many practitioners all over the countr...

Family proceedings (whether through NCDR or court-based) should be conducted cost effectively wit...

Social media can be a useful tool for family solicitors to connect with the public and other professionals, publicise campaigns, raise the profile of members and communicate about the work we do. As it can potentially reach a wide audience, we must be careful about how our use of social media impacts on our client-related work.

The introduction, development and evolution of new methods of resolving family disputes for changing families means there is a need for us all to look at how we communicate as members of Resolution; with our clients, with other members, with our clients’ former partners if they are not represented by a lawyer, with other members of our clients’ families, with other non-member lawyers, barristers, judges, mediators and arbitrators and more widely within the family justice system. Poor communication accounts for the largest number of complaints received by Resolution.

Written correspondence, such as emails or letters, is still the main method of communication in family disputes. The impact of letters and emails can be significant; therefore, consider who the recipient is and what you hope to achieve with the communication.

One of the most important aspects of a family lawyer's job is to draft documents on behalf of cli...

The object of all dispute resolution is to clarify facts and narrow issues. The use of experts ma...

As part of Resolution's Code of Practice members are asked to use the Good Practice Guides as part of their day to day work. These represent Resolution's core values and are designed to offer knowledge and guidance to our members.