Family Lawyers in Glasgow – Roles & Responsibilities
Family lawyers in Glasgow help clients resolve disputes involving family relationships and offer legal advice on adoption, divorce, and property settlements. They may work as solo practitioners or as part of smaller law firms.
The first step to becoming a family lawyer is to obtain a four-year undergraduate degree. Some good majors include government, history, psychology, political science, and English.
Child Custody
When parents divorce or separate, child custody is one of the most challenging and vital issues that must be addressed. Family lawyers in Glasgow help clients decide what custody arrangements will work best for their children and how to ensure they are protected throughout the proceedings.
Legal and physical custody can be shared, or a court might award primary custody to one parent. In a shared custody arrangement, the kids spend about the same time with each parent.
The court makes custody decisions based on what’s best for the children involved. This includes their needs, relationships with each parent and other significant people in their lives, and the child’s education and well-being.
Divorce
A family lawyer helps clients with various legal matters involving family relationships, including divorce. This can include helping divorcing spouses negotiate a property settlement or preparing prenuptial agreements and other documents.
A divorce attorney may also represent divorcing couples in courtrooms to resolve disputes related to child custody, spousal support, and other issues. These lawyers often work in small firms or solo practices.
The first step in a divorce is to file a petition with the court, which either party can file. At this point, the other spouse must respond to the petition within a prescribed period. Failure to do so could lead to a default judgment, which is difficult and expensive to reverse.
Adoption
Adoption is when a child is placed with a new family and legally becomes part of the adoptive family’s custody. This can be done in various ways, including through adoption agencies, foster care, or step-parent adoption.
A family lawyer helps prospective adoptive families through the home study process. This involves meetings, interviews, and training sessions with an adoption agency to determine whether the family is ready to adopt a child.
The adoption process can be complex, but the results are often life-changing for the child and the family. The most rewarding outcome is simply providing a safe home for a child who has lost one. It can also give a new family a sense of meaning and purpose they may have never experienced before.
Prenuptial Agreements
A prenuptial agreement is a legal contract between two people who are about to get married. It lays out how they will deal with their assets in a divorce.
These agreements are generally created for various reasons, including wealth imbalances or when couples have children from prior relationships. They can also be beneficial for older couples who may have significant assets or retirement income to protect.
To help determine if a prenuptial agreement is suitable for you, first sit down with your spouse and discuss your respective financial interests and goals. Then create a list of preferred assets and liabilities, suggests Octavia Liu, wealth planner at RBC Wealth Management in Asia.
Child Support
A family lawyer can help you determine custody, get support, or resolve other family law issues. They use their expertise to represent you at court, gathering evidence of school records, testimonies of a psychologist or substance abuse counsellor, criminal records and even medical records.
Child support is a monthly payment that a court orders the non-custodial parent to pay to the parent with custody of the children. This money helps cover the children’s food, clothing, and other expenses.
The amount of support is determined by a judge based on a child’s needs and parents’’ incomes. It may also cover additional expenses such as uninsured or“extraordinary” health care and education.