For some time the team at FLiP has wanted to create a community of support between our clients. What we have been able to do, through the generosity of a number of our clients, is to bring together their experiences of going through a divorce or separation in our Divorce Diaries website. The names used on the site are fictitious but the divorce stories they tell are entirely real.

Take a look at our Divorce Diaries website.

In 2019 we introduced Settify onto our website. Settify is an online system that uses Artificial Intelligence to interact with clients in real time. Settify allows clients to outline their matter and provide their relationship history via their phone, tablet or computer and immediately receive personalised, bespoke guidance on the family law issues direct from Settify.

At FLiP we care deeply about ensuring that our clients’ experience of working with us is a positive one. The Settify technology anticipates the way that many of our clients want to interact with us. Clients can access Settify straight from our website, wherever and whenever it suits them. It provides a modern and high-touch service and epitomises the user-friendly and value added service we offer to clients.

Get Started Online

We have a dedicated section on our website for children who find themselves in circumstances where their parents have taken the decision to separate and are unsure who to turn to. The page is aimed to provide signposts to the support and guidance which may just help and includes links to external support services who might be able to assist.

You can find the page here.

Below are a series of articles co authored by FLiP Director James Pirrie which provide a helpful guide as to everything you need to know about the CMS.

Article 1 – An Overview

Article 2 – The Formula

Article 3 – The Process

We have produced a child maintenance calculator which is featured alongside the child support pages in Lexis Nexis’ prestigious Family Court Practice 2023 (The Red Book).

What we have created is a step by step calculator, with reminders about the key rules and considerations that apply to each of those steps along the way.

• We provide guidelines about when the CMS has jurisdiction;
• set out the tests for deciding who is the parent with care;
• and then provide a calculator to deliver the basic assessment that the CMS should carry out in your case, through the input of the five core variables (1)income, 2)pension contributions, 3)children in the paying party’s home, 4)children being paid for and 5)overnight stays);
• It takes in where the paying parent has dependent children in their household but also looks at where the paying party has multiple obligations to a number of persons with care.

You can access the calculator here.

Our maintenance indexation calculator can give you an indication of how inflation might have affected your original maintenance order whether you are the recipient of the payments or the payer. The calculator can be adjusted to use RPI, CPI and/or RPIX.

If you have any queries regarding the maintenance indexation calculator, please email Stephanie Dodman: sd@flip.co.uk and James Pirrie: jp@flip.co.uk

An explanation of commonly used family law terms and phrases can be found here.

Here are some websites where you may find helpful information and support:

• Autismlinks – support and advice to help those living with autism.

• FLiP Faculty – Training courses for family lawyers that get to the heart of what we do.
• ReFLEx – Training and resources designed to help family law professionals take a more holistic approach to acting for their clients.

• Resolution – An organisation of family lawyers committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes.

• Relate – An organisation offering advice, relationship counselling and therapy

• Family Mediators Association – An organisation of family mediators who offer comprehensive family and hybrid mediation covering all issues.
• Gingerbread – An organisation providing advice and practical support for single parents
• Voices in the Middle – An organisation which works to support older children facing family breakdown.
• OnlyDads – A national on-line support service for parents who are going through or have been through a separation or divorce
• The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationship – A centre of excellence for relationship therapy, providing specialised and affordable services for couples and parents.
• The Parent Practice – Provides a wide range of support for parents including classes and workshops.
• OnlyMums – A national online support service for parents who are going through or have been through a separation or divorce.
• Refuge – supports women,children & men experiencing domestic violence with a range of services.
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline – 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline
• Women’s Aid – for female victims of domestic abuse.
• Galop  – for members of the LGBT+ community.
• Men’s Advice Line – for male victims of domestic abuse and those supporting them.
• Rights of Women – free and confidential legal advice to women.
• NSPCC – provides advice and support for anyone with concerns about a child.
• Childline – helps and supports children and young people.
• SignHealth – a domestic abuse service support for deaf people in British Sign Language.
• Respect –  an anonymous and confidential helpline for men and women who are harming their partners and families.  The helpline also takes calls from (ex)partners, friends and relatives who are concerned about perpetrators.
• Guide to Economic Abuse – Economic abuse is a form of Domestic Abuse. This guide provides information on how to spot it and where you might go for help
• Hub of Hope – a website that lists the support available to you in your local area.
• Paul Huntingford Therapy – group therapy for those who are separating or who have separated.