Family Law Solicitors in Kilkenny
Family Law Solicitors in Kilkenny
At Boland and Company, we have extensive experience in the area of Family Law acquired over many years of providing practical solutions, advice and achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients. We understand that issues such as marital breakdown are hugely traumatic life events and we aim to provide our clients with the best possible outcome with the minimal amount of stress. Our Family Law services include the following:
• Applications for Divorce.
In any application for divorce, the court can only grant an order provided the following grounds are met:
a) The spouses have lived apart from one another for a period of at least four years during the previous five years immediately prior to the institution of proceedings.
b) There is no reasonable prospect of reconciliation between the spouses.
c) Proper provision has been made for all the parties and all dependent members of the family.
• Applications for Judicial Separation.
If it is not possible to agree the terms of a separation then it is open to either party to apply to court for a judicial separation, either in the High Court or in the Circuit Court depending on whether the assets involved are substantial. An application for Judicial Separation must be based on one of the following six grounds as set out in section one of the Judicial Separation & Family Law Reform Act 1989:
1. One party has committed adultery.
2. One party has behaved in such a way that it would be unreasonable to expect the other spouse to continue to live with them.
3. One party has deserted the other for at least one year at the time of the application.
4. The parties have live apart from one another for one year up to the time of the application and both parties agree to the decree being granted.
5. The parties have lived apart from one another for at least three years at the time of the application.
6. The court considers that a normal marital relationship has not existed between the spouses for at least one year before the date of the application.
• Applications for Annulment.
Unlike separation or divorce, an annulment means that the State accepts that the marriage never legally existed in the first place. There are three main grounds upon which you can apply for an annulment of your marriage:
1. Non – Observance of Formalities.
2. Lack of Capacity.
3. Lack of Consent.
• Guardianship/Custody/Access
• Maintenance.
Spousal Maintenance/Child Maintenance
• Applications for Protections/ Safety/ Barring Orders.
Protection Order
A protection order is an order which stops short of putting the respondent out of the family home but orders the respondent not to use violence or threaten to use violence against you, or to molest or put you or any dependent person in fear. The protection order does not have a life of its own but only lasts until the termination of the barring or safety order proceedings.
Safety Order
This was introduced by the 1996 Act and resembles a long-term protection order. A safety order does not put the respondent out of the residence of the applicant but it orders the respondent not to engage in the following behaviour:
1. Using or threatening to use violence against, molesting or putting in fear the applicant or dependent person and
2. If the respondent is residing at a place other than the place of the applicant or dependent person, inhibiting the respondent from watching or besetting the place where the applicant or dependent person resides.
Barring Order
A barring order is an order requiring a violent person to leave the family home. The order also prohibits the person from using violence or threats of violence and from watching or being near your home. In order to get a barring order, you must attend the District Court. A barring order can last up to three years if it is obtained in the District Court.
• Advice on Co-Habitation Rights.
New rights and obligations relating to couples that live together were introduced by the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 which came into law in January 2011. Prior to the introduction of the Act cohabiting couples had little or no rights or obligations with respect to each other. It is important for couples living together to understand these new rights and obligations but it is also important for couples to be aware that it is possible to contract out of the Act. Cohabitants (couples living together) do not possess the same legal rights and obligations as married couples or civil partnerships.
• Advices on Civil Partnerships.
For the first time in Ireland same sex couples are given rights, entitlements and obligations similar to married couples. Same sex couples must register their partnership in order to derive any rights or entitlements under the Act.
Civil partners can avail of many of the rights and protections conferred to married couples in areas such as property, maintenance, succession and pensions. If you are in a same sex relationship and have chosen to register your relationship, this relationship can only come to an end upon the death of one partner or alternatively on the dissolution of the partnership by a court (similar to a decree of divorce or judicial separation).
An application for dissolution of the partnership allows one or both partners to apply for maintenance or pension adjustment orders, property adjustment orders and a share in the estate of their ex-partner on death. The Act also permits civil partners to make an application for a barring order or safety order under the Domestic Violence Act, 1996.
