Laura Stocks

Practice Areas

Laura is an experienced family solicitor dealing with the full range of family law disputes, with a particular interest in complex children matters.

Laura has been advising clients in relation to family law matters for over a decade and worked for a number of well-known firms in the West Midlands, before joining Wright Hassall in June 2021.

Laura deals with all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, financial matters, child arrangements, surrogacy, cohabitation issues and pre-nuptial agreements. Laura has a particular interest in complex financial matters and represented the successful applicant in the case of H v W [2023] EWFC 120 which deals with enforcement in financial remedy proceedings and an application under the Thwaite Jurisdiction. She also has considerable experience representing clients in relation to complex children matters after having spent several years in her early career representing parents and other relatives in public law proceedings and having one case reach the Court of Appeal.

Laura has a firm yet sensitive approach which assists clients at what can be a highly emotive time, but where it pays to be pragmatic. Laura is a member of Resolution and as such, approaches matters in a non-confrontational way and aims to deal with matters outside of the Court arena where possible.

Career

After completing the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at The University of Law in Birmingham, Laura began working for a well known family firm in Birmingham where she qualified in 2015. She then worked for a number of other firms in the West Midlands area before joining Wright Hassall.

Professional Memberships

- Resolution

Experience

Laura has experience of helping clients with the issues that arise following relationship breakdowns, but also where parties are looking to progress their relationship by moving in together, getting married or entering into a civil partnership. Laura’s experience includes:

- Advising in relation to the division of assets on divorce and any subsequent enforcement action required, including dealing with high net worth individuals and cases where there are jurisdictional issues, allegations of hidden assets and significant non-matrimonial property.

- Drafting and advising in relation to pre-nuptial agreements, sometimes where considerable wealth is involved and one or both parties seek to protect their assets in the event of the marriage breaking down.

- Drafting cohabitation agreements, declarations of trust and dealing with property disputes when unmarried couples separate.

- Advising parents and other relatives in relation to child arrangements. Laura has dealt with several cases where there have been protracted proceedings spanning several years or possibly multiple sets of proceedings, serious allegations being made (including of parental alienation) and changes in residence. the Court is faced with parties making serious allegations against the other and having to consider changing a child’s residence. One of the highlights of Laura’s career has been representing a client in a matter where the children were residing under the witness protection scheme and the Court had to determine the living arrangements for the children bearing in mind the serious risks associated with the family.