Victoria is a family solicitor and trained collaborative lawyer with more than twenty years’ experience advising a variety of clients nationwide. She advises on divorce, civil partnership disputes and separation agreements. Her expertise also covers disputes involving finances, cohabitation and living-together agreements, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and cases involving children.
Expertise
- Financial Settlements
- Cross-jurisdictional elements
- Pensions
- Company assets
- Businesses
- Trusts
- Farms
- Applications for freezing injunctions
- Children Issues
- Applications for permission to remove children from the jurisdiction
- Applications to prohibit removal of children from the jurisdiction
- Overturning CAFCASS recommendations
- Cases involving domestic abuse
- High-conflict cases
- Cases involving mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse
- Cases involving parental alienation and successfully obtaining orders transferring residence
- Applications on behalf of grandparents and step-parents obtaining orders allowing the grandchildren to spend time with/live with them
- Enforcement
- Pre- and post-nuptial agreements
- Domestic abuse injunctions
- Property disputes on relationship breakdown
- Cohabitation agreements
Experience
Financial Settlements
- Acted for a wife based overseas and successfully applied for an interim order freezing the husband’s assets. Obtained a favourable financial settlement at trial including an order for spousal maintenance backdated to the date of the divorce petition.
- Acted for the wife of a high-profile footballer in proceedings involving complex pension provision and properties in the UK and abroad. Resolved matters through negotiation and achieved generous settlement terms for the wife.
- Acted for the wife in a case where the husband had already sold the former matrimonial home from beneath her whilst she was in occupation at the property. Successfully applied for a court order setting aside the sale of the former matrimonial home by the husband, successfully raised the husband’s conduct in the proceedings, and achieved favourable settlement terms for the wife at trial.
- Acted for the husband in a case involving a deed of separation previously entered into by the parties. Successfully defeated the wife’s application for maintenance pending suit and additional financial provision.
- Acted for a husband in a case involving various business interests, inherited assets and pension provision, and achieved favourable settlement terms.
Injunctions
- Acted in a high-profile matter and successfully applied for a reporting restriction injunction to protect the children.
- Successfully applying for zonal non-molestation orders prohibiting the abusive party from entering the town in which the victim and children live.
- Acted for many clients in successfully defeating applications for non-molestation orders and occupation orders.
- Acted for several clients in successfully applying to extend the term of non-molestation orders.
- Acted for many clients in successfully applying to set aside non-molestation orders initially made against them without notice.
Children Issues
- Acted for a father in complex children litigation. Successfully defended the mother’s allegations of child abuse against the father, established parental alienation and obtained a final order transferring the full-time care of the children to the father.
- Acted for a number of grandparents and successfully applied for court orders allowing their grandchildren to spend time with them, including overnight and for holidays. Acted in cases where the safety and wellbeing of grandchildren have been in issue and successfully applied for orders that the grandchildren live with their grandparents.
- Represented a mother and successfully applied to both vary an existing child arrangements order and obtain an order granting the mother permission to remove the child permanently from the UK to a non-EU country.
- Acted for a father in a matter involving mental health issues and allegations of sexual assault. Successfully applied for an emergency interim order transferring the care of the child to the father Successfully overturned the recommendations of CAFCASS that the child should return to the care of the mother and obtained a final order that the child should live with the father.
- Acted for a mother in a matter involving domestic abuse and allegations of rape. Secured the emergency return of the children to her care following the abduction of the children by the father. Successfully defended the father’s application for an order that the children spend time with him.
Career
Victoria qualified as a solicitor in 2000. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2022, she worked at the following firms:
- Steed & Steed Solicitors
- Rudlings Wakelam
- Blocks