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Divorce and family lawyers

When facing difficult moments in life, you need the best advice available. We're here to help.

As one of the world’s largest and most experienced teams of family and divorce lawyers, we have shaped the law and created our own flexible approach to separation.

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If you have a relationship issue, our family lawyers will give you clear direction and solutions from the very start.

We know that whatever your circumstances are, you want your situation handled with the utmost sensitivity, discretion and expertise.

We are leaders in family law

One of the largest, longest established teams of family and divorce lawyers in the world, top-ranked in England and Hong Kong for over 20 years
We also have skilled teams in Singapore and California
We’ve consistently created ground-breaking new law in reported cases, and were founders in the introduction of family mediation and arbitration
We’ve created a unique approach to separation called Uncouple – a flexible way for you to separate using only one law firm

What this means is that our experience and skills will deliver the right result for you.

Are we the right team for you?

We work with:

Clients from around the world
Those with cases involving significant financial or emotional complexity
Founders and entrepreneurs
High and ultra-high net worth individuals
Professionals from all walks of life
Leaders in commerce, entertainment and sporting worlds
Family offices and/or trustees

Get in touch with us to find out more about our services and fee structures.

How we can help

Alternative dispute resolution Children involved in your dispute Cohabitation and living together

Divorce, separation and finances Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements

I have worked with the team at Withers on a very large number of cases over many years. There is no case which is too complex or challenging for them, drawing as they do on years of experience acting for high net worth individuals as well as in-house expertise in other fields of law such as trusts and reputation management. Coupled with the fact that they have offices internationally, it gives them a definite edge over their competitors.

Family law barrister, London

Withers' family law team have acted on my behalf at various times since 2002. The division of assets were completed by 2003 and the process was straightforward. I do not think that this might have been the case if I'd gone elsewhere. They supported me again for the "clean break" settlement in 2011 and again the process was made to be uncomplicated. They have since helped with school and university fee issues.

Ex-spouse of hedge fund owner

They kept me calm and resolute throughout the process, encouraging me to focus on the bigger picture. Their warmth, empathy and humour made the difficult process of divorce much more palatable. I am extremely grateful for the professional, attentive yet personal way they handled my case.

Danusha Singhvi - self employed business woman

Professional and efficient whilst being friendly and approachable, their knowledge and practical solutions proved invaluable.

City professional

The swift and amicable approach they facilitated enabled my wife and I to move on without bitterness. I can highly recommend them for providing creative ideas, achieving results, and also being pleasant people to work with.

CEO of investment management firm

They listened to how I wanted to approach matters, and advised and guided me smoothly through the process, protecting my interests but without causing hiccups. They were a pleasure to deal with and I really appreciated their support and advice through the process. I would definitely recommend them to others.

CEO of global company

I was so thankful that I engaged Withers to handle my private affairs. They were extraordinarily professional, discreet and above all, kind. They saw me through a very difficult time, with tact, diplomacy and an abundance of wisdom, for which I am extremely grateful.

Business owner

Withers is without doubt the only law firm I will ever use in any of my affairs that require legal services. I have been their client for 5 years and have only ever experienced outstanding excellence in the unique service they provide. In my experience with Withers, I always felt like I was dealing with the absolute best of the best. One of the things I appreciate the most is that everybody I worked with had enormous compassion and kindness towards me. A very rare, very important quality that too many law firms lack.

Belinda Steiner

I believe I received the best legal advice I could have and on top of that I felt I was personally supported every step of the way. I always felt I had someone who was looking after my best interests - legally, financially and emotionally.

American artist

Withers are a formidable team of professionals, for sure! It's a remarkable record - in fact in terms of goals met it's a 100% hit rate. Expectations, high and rightly so, constantly well exceeded every time.

Nick Luke

Track record

Multi-billionaire businessman ordered to return 53 olive trees during divorce proceedings

Following substantial financial proceedings after their divorce, our client's husband removed a significant number of mature olive trees from a plot of land to be transferred to our client. The court found that the husband (who had previously told 'outright lies' to the court) was responsible for the uprooting of the trees, and was motivated by 'pure spite'. He was ordered to return them and to pay our client's costs.

Divorce involves a forum dispute between Hong Kong and Australia

We successfully acted for the husband to defeat the wife's application for a stay on the basis that Australia was the more appropriate jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal considered the factors the court should bear in mind when dealing with such challenges. At the time, it was a landmark case and is regularly quoted to this day on the topic of forum non conveniens.

Establishing fair division of assets on divorce

Miller v Miller is a seminal House of Lords decision that shaped the current law in relation to financial provision on divorce. This case established the three strands which should be considered in all future claims: needs, compensation and sharing. We represented Melissa Miller throughout these proceedings, and successfully defended her former husband's appeal, so that our client retained her £5 million settlement following their very short marriage.

Highest child maintenance award secured in Hong Kong

We acted for the mother and child in Hong Kong under the Guardianship of Minors Ordinance, achieving for our client the highest award for such child maintenance to date.

Landmark Court of Appeal case concerning the importance of children's wishes

We acted on a landmark Court of Appeal case concerning the removal of children and which reviewed the law on habitual residence under the Hague Convention: LCYP v JEK. The case dealt with the importance of the children's wishes and removed the previous test in respect of the parent's agreement and intention.

Removal of a child from Hong Kong to the US

Our team led a case which reached the Hong Kong Court of Appeal concerning the issue of the removal of a child from Hong Kong to the US. This case was interesting because the orders in respect of the children had been made by the courts in Singapore where the children were born and where the father continued to reside. However, the mother and children had lived in Hong Kong for a number of years and therefore we sought an order through the courts there. The court reluctantly refused jurisdiction on the basis that it would not be in the children's best interest if there were multiple jurisdictions involved.

Achieving settlement to end maintenance payments

As our client approached retirement, following a long and distinguished career as a barrister, he applied to terminate the maintenance payments he had been ordered to pay to his first wife for life. His former wife sought a lump sum payment of £560,000 in lieu of ongoing maintenance. The case went to the Court of Appeal, who established that the potential claims of a second wife cannot take priority over the first wife's claims and ordered a payment of £215,000 (less than half the amount she initially sought).

Appealing international relocation with children

Our client, who shared the care of his two children with his former wife, opposed her application to relocate to Canada permanently with them. We represented him in the Court of Appeal and successfully overturned the initial decision, so his former wife did not have permission to leave with the children. The decision marked an influential development in the court's approach to applications to relocate abroad with children.

Complex high value divorce leads to a change in the law in Hong Kong

We acted for the husband in a high value divorce, which involved a conflict in jurisdiction between Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China. The matter reached The Court of Final Appeal and led to a change in Hong Kong law, introducing new legislation to allow a party who had a divorce in another jurisdiction to seek a financial remedy in Hong Kong where applicable. This is an important measure protecting those who would be unfairly prejudiced by an overseas divorce.

Confirming that the welfare of children is paramount

We acted for the mother in her application for permission to relocate to Russia with the two children. This decision re-iterated what the Court of Appeal had said in MK v CK, that the only principle to apply is the welfare principle, but in this case the Court decided that our client should be given permission to relocate.

Court of Appeal defence of credit crunch award

A property developer's business suffered huge losses when the financial crisis hit, and we acted for him in his divorce negotiations with his wife, heiress of a business empire. Our team helped the husband defend the allocation of an equal split of the couple's finances, plus an extra £5 million lump sum payment to the husband to cover half of his property losses.

Disentangling complex structures to achieve a settlement

We acted for the wife in OS v DS. Her husband had failed to make proper disclosure of his financial resources. We assisted in establishing an innovative court procedure so that the judge could carry out a 'preliminary/oral discovery' hearing. We were then able to settle the case resulting in a positive outcome for our client. This procedure has since been used in many other cases and is now known as an 'OS v DS hearing'.

Divorce case dealing with trust, share valuation and non-matrimonial asset issues

We delivered a comprehensive result for the wife in X v X [2016]. We successfully argued that her husband’s interest in a trust should be considered a resource of his and included in the marital assets available for division. The case also involved complex issues of assessing the contributions made by the husband and the wife during the marriage, the valuation of shares in a listed company, and the extent of non-matrimonial assets.

Four year battle for full disclosure

We represented Lisa Tchenguiz in a lengthy, complex, high profile divorce which resulted in a change in the law on disclosure and confidentiality of documents in divorce proceedings; and also produced additional decisions in relation to the joinder of trust beneficiaries to financial proceedings on divorce. The Court of Appeal ruled that unauthorized access to a former spouse's personal documents breached a duty of confidentiality. The judgment has been described by some as a cheat's charter and an obstacle to transparency.

Hong Kong team act in a landmark high value cross border divorce

A cross border team acted for an ultra high net worth client in an exceptionally complex divorce, involving company structures and multiple third parties, offshore trusts and multi million dollar assets in a number of jurisdictions. We obtained the highest ever award for interim maintenance in Hong Kong.

Protecting family wealth in a US-Canadian marriage

The child of a wealthy Canadian family moved to the United States and married. We advised the family on protecting their assets and created trust structures sufficiently flexible to grow with the child and the child's emergent new family needs, while avoiding inclusion in the child's US estate and minimizing a potential divorce settlement payout. This included optimizing various in-bound real estate investments as the family purchased, exchanged and extensively renovated properties.

Special contribution argument in record value case

We acted for Sir Chris Hohn in what was then the highest value divorce case. He had generated his wealth through huge success in investment management, and had also established a charitable foundation which achieved international recognition in its field. We successfully argued that the marital assets should not be equally divided, in part due to his 'special contribution' to their generation. Mrs Cooper-Hohn was awarded 36% of the total.

Special contribution to a marriage's resources

We acted for advertising and marketing giant WPP's CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell, in his divorce case, which is one of the very few in which the judges accepted the argument that his 'exceptional contribution' to the marriage's finances was sufficient to justify an unequal division of the couple's assets. Sir Martin was awarded 60% of the assets, with no ongoing maintenance payments.

Successfully arguing division based on contribution

John Charman is a leading figure in the international insurance industry, and we represented him in his divorce. During their 27 year marriage the Charmans had accumulated assets of c£131 million. The family fortune was held directly and via a Bermuda-based trust. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision that Mr Charman's exceptional success in business should result in a 63/37% split in his favor.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal rules that trusts are subject to division

In Kan Lai Kwan v Poon Lok To Otto, the law in relation to trusts was clarified and the principles in the English case of Charman were confirmed to be an appropriate precedent in Hong Kong. The court found that the trusts could be subject to division as, should the settlor request the trustees to make an advancement to him, they would be likely to do so.

Use of European pre and postnuptial agreements clarified in the Hong Kong courts

A landmark divorce case in Hong Kong involved German pre and postnuptial agreements. The case confirmed that the principles set out in the English Supreme Court case of Radmacher, in respect of prenuptial agreements, would be an appropriate precedent for the Hong Kong courts, and that, if the parties fully understood the implications, they would most likely be bound to their agreements.

The US-born son of a UK businessman

When he became engaged to a Swiss citizen, the son of a high-profile UK businessman asked us to help him obtain a British Passport and expatriate from the US. We were also asked to draft a prenuptial agreement. Timing was of the essence but as a global, full-service firm we created a team of immigration, family and private client lawyers to meet tight deadlines.

Recognition

Recommended for family law

Top ranked for divorce and family (Band 1)

Best client innovation service

Top tier for family

Top ranked for divorce and family

Leading firm for family and divorce law

Recommended for family law

Recommended firm for family and matrimonial

Top recommended for family law

Ranked for Family

Highly recommended for family law

Top ranked for family (Band 1)

Top ranked for family and matrimonial - ultra-high-net-worth

Top ranked for family (Band 1)

Private client innovation of the year

Spears 500 2020

Tatler HNW 2020

Top ranked in family (band 1)

Family (Band 1)

Our team

Diana C Parker

Partner | London

Diana C Parker

Partner | London

Divorce and family

Email Diana

+44 20 7597 6384

Suzanne Todd

Partner | London

Suzanne Todd

Partner | London

Divorce and family

Email Suzanne

+44 20 7597 6164

Michael Gouriet

Partner | London

Michael Gouriet

Partner | London

Divorce and family

Email Michael

+44 20 7597 6125

Claire Blakemore

Partner | London

Claire Blakemore

Partner | London

Divorce and family

Email Claire

+44 20 7597 6025

Samantha Klein

Partner | Los Angeles

Samantha Klein

Partner | Los Angeles

Divorce and Family

Email Samantha

+1 310 228 5755

Billy Ko

Partner | Hong Kong

Billy Ko

Partner | Hong Kong

Family

Email Billy

+852 3711 1656

Jocelyn Tsao

Partner | Hong Kong

Jocelyn Tsao

Partner | Hong Kong

Divorce and family

Email Jocelyn

+852 3711 1609

Ivan Cheong

Partner, Withers KhattarWong* | Singapore

Ivan Cheong

Partner, Withers KhattarWong* | Singapore

Family

Email Ivan

+65 6238 3276

View All

Insight

19 January 2023 | article

Divorce in the digital age in Singapore and Hong Kong: Crypto and NFTs as matrimonial assets?

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9 January 2023 | article

The relationship between marital breakdown and loss of employment in the UK

28 November 2022 | blog

Working towards better divorces in Good Divorce Week in the UK

15 November 2022 | article

Cryptoassets in matrimonial law in Hong Kong

20 September 2022 | article

When dynasties crumble: how to (re)build your family

23 August 2022 | article

UK Government issues draft legislation to lighten CGT burden for separating couples

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