Nowadays more and more people are choosing to live or work abroad and these decisions about relocation can impact upon people's family lives in ways that are not anticipated, particularly in relation to different outcomes in divorce proceedings.  The Family Department has considerable experience in acting for 'international' high net worth individuals of this kind who have links outside the United Kingdom.  They have experience at all levels of the team dealing in family matters involving both European countries and worldwide jurisdictions. 

The Family Department's experience extends from drafting International Prenuptial Agreements and 'forum shopping' upon a divorce – the choice about where to start divorce proceedings, through to representing clients in contested proceedings and negotiating/drafting agreements involving International assets and/or jurisdictional considerations. 

Choice of jurisdiction can often be critical to the financial outcome in a divorce as different countries have very different laws on matters relating to division of assets, spousal maintenance, pensions, property adjustment and children.  The team have written a number of articles on this subject and, working with lawyers from other jurisdictions have put together a Capital and Prenuptial Agreements International Table 2007 and Spousal Maintenance International Table 2007 which provide some guidance as to the varying legal position in other jurisdictions.