England & Derbyshire LLP

Registered 10 years

PRO

England & Derbyshire LLP is a Guildford-based firm that focuses mainly on family law. We also handle professional negligence claims, motoring offences using our own Solicitor Advocate, probate, wills, trusts and LPAs.

Free initial consultation Fixed fees No win, no fee

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01483 332080 [email protected] englandderbyshire.co.uk

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About Us

Independent, boutique family-law firm in Guildford, serving England and Wales.

England & Derbyshire LLP is an independent, boutique law firm supporting people, families and businesses across England and Wales, with solicitors drawing on over 80 years of combined legal experience.

Family law is our focus: divorce, financial settlements, child arrangements, domestic abuse, cohabitation disputes and pre- and post-nuptial agreements. We are also known for professional negligence claims against other solicitors for negligent divorce advice, having recovered over £15 million for affected clients since 2016, including a £400,000 High Court award in 2023. Beyond family law we handle wills, trusts and probate, motoring offences, employment, and property and commercial matters.

Every new enquiry is handled personally by a partner, and we offer two free consultations before you commit, so you can understand your position before you decide.

Practice Areas

Our Team

Client Testimonials

Provided by the firm and not independently verified.

Maddie is a very friendly, comfortable person to be around. She made me feel like I could/can tell her anything. Maddie is a huge support network to me. She goes beyond her role to help her clients. Genuinely I could not pick a better solicitor.

Anonymous

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for all your help and support, you've been an absolute star, so inspirational and I was so lucky to have you representing me. You are a credit to England and Derbyshire.

Anonymous

To all the team involved in helping me, thank you. You will never realise how much this means to me. My life is changed.

Anonymous

Offices

Office

Guildford Head Office GU2 9JX

Call Email

27 Parklands
Off Tylehost
Queen Elizabeth Park
Guildford
GU2 9JX

01483 332080

[email protected]

englandderbyshire.co.uk

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Our office is in Queen Elizabeth Park on the edge of Guildford, Surrey. From here our team advises clients across England and Wales on family law, professional negligence, and a range of other matters, with every new enquiry handled personally by a partner. Weekend enquiries are monitored on a regular basis.

Opening hours

Monday – Friday 08:00 – 18:00

Saturday – Sunday Closed

Services and Pricing

Payment options:

Our services and pricing

Service	Price
Divorce (Uncontested) Solicitor fees for an uncontested divorce. The court fee, currently £612, is a separate disbursement, and family fees are payable monthly until conclusion.	£750 – £1,500 + VAT
Financial Settlement Around £3,000 to £10,000 for a negotiated agreement, rising to £15,000 to £30,000 or more if the matter goes to a final court hearing.	£3,000 – £30,000 + VAT
Child Arrangements Solicitor fees depend on the matter. The court application fee, currently £255, is a separate disbursement.	Contact us for a quote
Motoring Offence Defence Handled on a fixed-fee basis depending on the matter, with an hourly rate of £220.	£850 – £2,500 + VAT
Debt Recovery Contact us for a quote tailored to your matter.	Contact us for a quote
Professional Negligence We review whether a divorce financial settlement was flawed; eligible claims are then run on a no win, no fee basis.	Contact us for a quote

Prices shown are based on standard cases with no unforeseen complications. Final fees may vary depending on the complexity of your matter, and additional disbursements such as court fees, Land Registry fees, and search costs may apply and are not included in the prices above. Please contact us for a detailed quote tailored to your circumstances.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on what you need and how complicated it is. For a straightforward uncontested divorce, solicitor fees typically run to £750–£1,500 plus the £612 court fee (as of 2025). For a contested financial settlement, costs vary significantly. A negotiated agreement might run to £3,000–£10,000, while a case that goes to a final court hearing can reach £15,000–£30,000 or more. We give you a written estimate before any work starts, and our fees are published in line with SRA transparency requirements.

The legal minimum under the no-fault system is 26 weeks (around six months). That includes a mandatory 20-week reflection period after your application is issued, then a further six-week wait before the Final Order. In practice, most divorces involving finances or children take 12 to 18 months once you factor in court backlogs and the time it takes to reach agreement. A divorce where both sides agree on everything will always be faster.

You’re not legally required to use one for the divorce application itself. But most people benefit significantly from legal advice, particularly when finances or children are involved. The divorce is just the mechanism for ending the marriage. It doesn’t automatically sort out money or child arrangements. Many people who go through it without a solicitor realise later that their financial settlement was less than they were entitled to, or that they never secured a binding financial order, which leaves them exposed to future claims. Our first conversation is free. Use it to understand your position before you decide.

No-fault divorce was introduced in England and Wales in April 2022. It means you no longer need to give a reason or assign blame, and your spouse can’t block it. You make a statement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. The court accepts this without investigation. Either one spouse can apply alone, or both can apply jointly. It’s made the beginning of the process less adversarial, though financial and children matters still need to be worked out separately.

The family home is a matrimonial asset and goes into the overall financial settlement. The main options are one party buying out the other, selling and splitting the proceeds, or a deferred sale, often used when children are young and stability matters. What makes sense depends on the full financial picture: what else exists, what each party needs to live on, and what the children’s situation requires. Agreeing something informally isn’t legally binding, and informal arrangements often create problems later.

A consent order is a legally binding document recording the financial agreement between divorcing spouses, approved and sealed by the court. Without one, either party can make a financial claim against the other at any point in the future, even years or decades after the divorce. We advise every client to get a consent order, even where the separation is entirely amicable. It’s one of the most important steps people miss, and one of the most consequential.

Child arrangements in private family law are governed by the Children Act 1989. The court’s primary consideration is always the welfare of the child above everything else. Where parties can’t agree, they must first attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAM) before making a court application, unless safety concerns or other exemptions apply. A court then makes a Child Arrangements Order setting out where the child lives and how much time they spend with each parent.

A solicitor advises and represents you. They act in your interests and yours alone. A mediator is neutral; they help both parties reach agreement but don’t represent either side and can’t give legal advice to either. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Many clients use mediation to agree on the key issues, then instruct solicitors to draft the binding documents and check that what’s been agreed is actually fair. We can talk through which approach makes sense for your situation.

Not always. It depends on what type of application is being made and how the case progresses. Usually, the person making the application pays the court fee upfront. In children matters, that fee is currently £255 for a Child Arrangements Order application (as of 2025). Legal costs are generally separate, meaning each parent normally pays their own solicitor’s fees. Unlike some other areas of law, family courts do not routinely order one parent to pay the other’s legal costs unless someone has behaved unreasonably or failed to comply with court orders. Before court proceedings begin, parents are usually expected to try mediation first unless there are concerns around domestic abuse, urgency, or other recognised exemptions.

In England and Wales, the starting point is usually a 50/50 division of matrimonial assets, but that does not automatically mean everything is split equally. The court looks at what is fair based on the specific circumstances of the marriage. That includes things like the length of the marriage, each person’s income and earning capacity, pensions, property, childcare responsibilities, and future financial needs. In cases involving children, housing stability often becomes a major factor. Assets can include far more than just the family home. Pensions, businesses, savings, investments, inherited wealth, and overseas property can all become relevant. Every financial settlement should be looked at as a whole, not asset by asset in isolation.

You’re not legally required to use a solicitor, but it’s usually advisable. Separation agreements often deal with finances, property, living arrangements, and sometimes children. If the agreement is vague, incomplete, or unfairly drafted, problems tend to emerge later. A properly prepared agreement gives both parties clarity about what has been agreed during the separation period. While separation agreements themselves are not automatically binding in the same way as a court order, courts are far more likely to uphold them when both people received independent legal advice and entered into the agreement freely. For many couples, a separation agreement creates structure and certainty while they decide what happens next.

Yes, though it depends on the type of hearing and the level of court involved. Many family solicitors regularly represent clients at procedural hearings, directions hearings, and some interim applications themselves. In more complex hearings, particularly final hearings or High Court matters, a barrister may also be instructed to represent you in court. If a barrister is needed, your solicitor remains involved throughout. They prepare the case, manage the evidence, brief the barrister, and continue advising you strategically from beginning to end. Most clients never have to organise that process themselves; we handle it for you.