You get Child Benefit if you’re responsible for a child under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training). Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child.
Family law toolkit
We have gathered together some information and links to websites and other professional experts which we hope you will find useful.
Claim Child Benefit
Turn2us
Turn2us is a national charity that helps people in financial hardship to gain access to welfare benefits, charitable grants and support services. We do this through our website, helpline, and also by providing training workshops to our partners so they can provide face-to-face advice using our online tools. We also give direct financial support through a number of charitable funds, including the Elizabeth Finn Fund and the Edinburgh Trust.
You could be missing out on financial help available to you through welfare benefits or grants. Our free and easy-to-use Benefits Calculator and Grants Search tools can help you check what you might be able to claim or apply for.
Tax Credits
Forces Pension Society
Resolution
Resolution’s 6,500 members are family lawyers and other professionals committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes. Our members follow a Code of Practice that promotes a non-confrontational approach to family problems. Our members encourage solutions that consider the needs of the whole family – and in particular the best interests of children.
Pensions Advisory Service
The Pensions Advisory Service has been around for 32 years. Over these years, we have been helping people with their questions and issues about their workplace, personal and stakeholder pension schemes. Our service is offered on the phone, through live webchat, self-service online and through written enquiries. We are also a delivery partner for the new Pension Wise service set up by HM Government, providing free and impartial pre-booked telephone appointments.
Cafcass
Cafcass represents children in family court cases. We make sure that children’s voices are heard and decisions are taken in their best interests. We are independent of the Courts, social services, education and health authorities and all similar agencies. Cafcass stands for Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service.
Pensions and divorce or dissolution
If you get divorced or end your civil partnership, the court can look at your additional State Pension as a financial asset. This is money you have coming in, which can be shared by what is called a pension sharing order. This means part of your additional State Pension can be shared with a previous spouse or civil partner. This includes State Pension top up.
State Pension
Pension Tracing Service
State Pension Statement
Trethowans Useful Links
Family Therapists
Ashley Palmer
Family Mediator
Ashley is an accredited Family Mediator, Child Consultant and qualified Psychotherapist. She is a board member of The Family Mediators Association (FMA) and a Registered member of the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP)
She has worked for over 9 years within the NHS, Mediation Services and her own Private Practice.
Working in these various environments has helped Ashley to develop a unique and effective model of practice. She works with parents who are struggling to see a way forward that is respectful collaborative.
It has been recognised that the effect of deep-set parental conflict on children is extremely detrimental to their psychological and emotional wellbeing and that the children’s primary concern is usually about how well their parents get on with each other.
Ashley offers parents an opportunity to come to their own collaborative agreements where they both feel heard and appreciated. When parents find a supportive way of working together post-separation, they help their children to feel more secure, thereby reducing their anxiety and distress.
Financial Planning and Wealth Management
Mike Caffyn, APFS
Chartered Financial Planner
Mike has worked in the financial services industry since 1984 and has been a Director of TRPP Wealth Management since 2005.
As well as advising on a wide range of financial issues, Mike provides specialist advice to family lawyers, their clients and the Courts in respect of how pensions and other investments should be valued and treated when relationships break down.
Mike is known by his clients for being professional and approachable when dealing with sensitive family matters.
As well as being a Chartered Financial Planner, Mike is one of a very limited number of financial advisers in the UK to have been accredited by Resolution for family law matters.
He is also qualified to advise on the complex area of pension transfers, as well as investment planning, inheritance tax and care fees.
Stewart Sims-Handcock FPFS
Chartered Financial Planner
Stewart is based in the Lonsdale Independent Financial Advisor’s Ringwood office and has 20 years financial services experience.
He is a Chartered Financial Planner, Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, and holds advanced qualifications in Taxation and Trusts; and Pension Funding.
Key Focus – He advises high net worth clients and specialises in financial planning in divorce.
David Andrews
Financial Adviser
David is a Financial Adviser at AHB Saltus, having merged Andrews Hammond Brady, where he was a Director, with Saltus Financial Planning in 2016.
He provides pension advice specialising in retirement planning, the pension aspects of divorce and corporate pensions and employee benefits.
Prior to founding Andrews Hammond Brady in 2004, David has been a Financial Adviser in the Bournemouth area since the 1980s.
David holds a Diploma in Financial Planning and is a Resolution accredited pension in divorce specialist.
Calvin Brady
Financial Adviser
Calvin is a Financial Adviser at AHB Saltus, having merged Andrews Hammond Brady, where he was Managing Director, with Saltus Financial Planning in 2016.
He specialises in providing advice around trusts and personal injury awards as well as pension sharing on divorce.
Prior to founding Andrews Hammond Brady in 2004, Calvin has been a Financial Adviser for over 25 years.
Calvin is a Chartered Financial Planner and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute. He is also a STEP Associate and is a Resolution accredited divorce specialist.