Jo is a Senior Associate in the Family team.
She has been working in the legal sector for over 30 years and specialises in arrangements after relationship breakdown regarding children, finances and property. This includes negotiating, and seeking court approval for, decisions about where children should live and how much time they spend with each parent, as well as resolving disputes over issues such as change of name or education. In regard to the agreement of financial settlements, Jo is a tenacious investigator leaving no stone unturned to ensure that all financial, business and property assets have been considered and protected, and that fair settlement is agreed.
Where there is a pension to be shared, she will bring in an appropriate expert. Jo also prepares pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements for couples with wealth from outside the marriage which they wish to protect.
Working for couples and families, whether married, in a civil partnership or living together, and often acts for families where one person lives or wishes to relocate overseas.
Recent examples of how Jo has supported clients include:
- negotiating a substantial settlement for the unmarried partner of a well-known footballer, with whom she had a child and later separated;
- securing a court award of all financial assets by investigating and proving that bank statements provided by the spouse during the divorce were fraudulent;
- negotiating an amicable agreement on arrangements for children, without going to court, when one parent wished to relocate to South Africa; and
- preventing the removal of a child to Australia on behalf of one parent who was ill and would be unable to visit.