Alternative Families

We recognise that every family is different and a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not meet the diverse needs of our clients. Alternative families can face challenges and complexities in the legal arena that require specialist care.  We are working at the forefront of family law to meet the needs of modern families. Our knowledge and proficiency in “alternative” family law is unparalleled. We champion diverse family structures.  

Our alternative families barristers are skilled at guiding clients in specialist legal matters, including:

• Surrogacy (both foreign and domestic) and parental orders
• Fertility treatment, including IVF and donor conception
• Co-parenting
• Legal parenthood / parental responsibility
• Adoption
• Gender identity (including applications for Gender Recognition Certificates)
• Trans parents / children
• LGBTQ+ divorce / dissolution of civil partnerships
• Financial remedies and children disputes
• Cohabitation agreements
• Pre-nuptial agreements
• Same-sex marriage and civil partnership formation.

Coram provides a full and bespoke out of court Dispute Resolution service which utilises the expert skills of our family barristers as mediators, arbitrators and through neutral evaluation (private FDR hearings). The expertise of several of our members is recognised by the most prominent directories, Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500. Our barristers have written extensively, including regular contributions to leading practitioners’ textbooks and journals.

Coram provides excellent representation, tailored to our clients’ individual needs. We have acted in several ground-breaking cases in Alternative Families, including the leading case in the UK Supreme Court on behalf of a trans child.

Reported highlights include:

Re C (Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage Fact Finding) [2019] EWHC 3449 (Fam)

Re D [2019] EWFC B65 (10 October 2019)

In the matter of T (A Child) 2019/0188

M v W [2019] EWHC 648 (Fam)

Re T (A Child) (Secure Accommodation Order) [2018] EWCA Civ 2136

Re D (Practice: Declaration of Parentage) [2018] EWHC 1782 (Fam)