A new family law code of practice has been launched by the Law Society of Ireland.
In summary the family law code provides that solicitors should always remember that the best interests of the family as a whole, and of any children of the family in particular, must be a priority.
Ken has confirmed that the spirit of the new family law code of practice is in line with his own methods of practice in family law as applied for the benefit of his clients for some years now.
The family law code says that solicitors should advise, negotiate and conduct matters so as to help the clients settle their differences as amicably and quickly as possible and should avoid inflaming a dispute. Solicitors must consider the effect all correspondence could have on other parties and on their own clients and should avoid confrontational language in correspondence which may make a difficult situation worse.
Ken recognises that the family law code may seem pointless to those who see the use of litigation before the courts as the ultimate answer to getting what they want in a family law dispute, but Ken encourages his clients to recognise that “…the dispute is not a contest in which there is a winner and a loser, but rather that it is a search for fair solutions…“, as set out in the family law code. It is Ken’s view that as it is exactly this “fair solution” that a judge in contested family law proceedings will seek to deliver, that this is what he and his clients work towards from the outset.