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About Alternative Family Law

Andrea Woelke set up Alternative Family Law in 2005 because he felt that the way he as a family lawyer works with his clients and meets their needs differs greatly from the way lawyers work with clients in other areas of law. Family law touches very personal and intimate areas of people’s lives and most clients prefer to have a personal relationship with their lawyer. In other areas large teams may deal with a case and work is streamlined into an efficient computerised case-management system, with day-to-day tasks often done by junior lawyers or non-legal staff, or even by computer systems without human input. By contrast family law clients require an expert lawyer who is easily accessible and has overall day-to-day responsibility for their case. Andrea Woelke is now continuing this work as a consultant at Josiah-Lake Gadiner, where he complements the team with his particular expertise and experience in international cases and issues involving lesbian and gay clients.

Why “Alternative Family Law”?

First, Andrea Woelke believes that litigation in the courts is not the only way to resolve family conflicts, and it is often the worst. He offers clients the whole range of options to resolve the problems arising out of relationship breakdown. This provides a strong alternative to litigation for those families where this is appropriate. Secondly Andrea’s clients come from a wide range of backgrounds and countries and include those with unconventional family set-ups including same-sex couples and their families. In this way, the word is also meant to signify the alternative family structures Andrea has experience in. Some colleagues in other firms called themselves “matrimonial” lawyers. Andrea’s clients come from a wide and diverse range, including single-parent families, unmarried and same-sex couples. Therefore Andrea Woelke firmly sees himself as a family lawyer and not just a matrimonial lawyer or divorce lawyer.

Why the photos of fruit and vegetables?

When Alternative Family Law was a law firm, our office was near Borough Market, just across London Bridge from the City. Borough Market’s roots go back to Roman and medieval times when the old London Bridge was too narrow for carts to cross and those coming from Kent and Surrey to supply London with their produce had to unload on the south bank. A market therefore developed along Borough High Street, which later moved to its present location. Until the late 1990s Borough Market was simply a wholesale market operating in the early hours of the morning. Since then it has developed into Britain’s premier location to buy specialised foodstuffs and produce with a wide range of traders from all over the world selling top quality goods. Most of the traders are experts in their particular field, selling only a small range of goods, sometimes only a single item, be that the best Parmesan cheese, or the most delicious wild mushrooms. Although you will not find any cheap-range items here, especially seasonal fruit and vegetables are often less expensive than in the supermarkets because the traders do not carry the overheads of the large operations with all their advertising etc. Alternative Family Law equally was a small law firm specialising in a niche area.

Areas Of Law

Andrea Woelke deals with divorces of opposite-sex couples, whether there are children or not and whether there is little in finances to sort out, or complex assets, sometimes in several countries. Such cases can involve complicated aspects of international family law. In the same way he has many clients who dissolve their civil partnership and is sensitive to the special ways lesbians and gay men structure their relationships. When unmarried couples separate there can sometimes be legally complex aspects in relation to the home, which may be jointly owned, or owned in the name of one partner, with the other one claiming an interest. In such cohabitation cases, there may also be issues in relation to children, whether they are biological children of both partners or not. Of course Andrea also deals with property disputes between co-owners of flats or houses where there is a co-ownership dispute about the beneficial interest, whether it is a buy-to-let property or their former home. To prevent later disputes, some couples decide to have a pre-nuptial or pre-registration agreement drafted, or a cohabitation agreement or a deed of trust, if they are not married or civil partners. Sometimes a situation at home is so unbearable because of the behaviour of one of the parties, sometimes including domestic violence, that an urgent application to the court for an injunction is necessary. If a close member of the family dies, the law allows in certain circumstances inheritance claims against the estate from close relatives who have lost out.

Regulation and Insurance

Alternative Family Law is an information website on English family law and is not offering legal advice. Andrea Woelke is now working as a consultant at Josiah-Lake Gardiner which is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and fully insured.

12 January 2024 by Andrea Woelke