Ms Heather Souter > Paris Smith LLP > Southampton, England > Lawyer Profile

Ms Heather Souter

023 8048 2174 heather.souter@parissmith.co.uk View profile

Work Department

Family Law

Position

Senior Associate

Career

I am a Senior Associate in the Family team specialising in:

• divorce and dissolution of civil partnership;
• financial consequences following a relationship breakdown;
• cohabitation and living together agreements; and
• private children matters, including financial provision for children under Schedule 1.

I advise on all aspects of family law to include divorce, financial settlements arising after a separation (including the interim financial position), enforcement and variation claims, and complex private children matters, which often raise serious issues such as parental alienation, substance misuse and controlling and coercive behaviour.

I also have a specific interest in farming and agricultural cases and expertise as to how these are treated upon a divorce or dissolution. My agricultural sector knowledge has been noted by the leading independent directory, The Legal 500, which also names me as a key lawyer. I am also a member of the Agricultural Law Association.

My clients are wide ranging and include sports personalities, business owners, members of the medical profession, accountants, farmers and landowners, and homemakers.

In addition, I am a member of Resolution, a national organisation committed to resolving family matters through constructive and non-confrontational means, and have assisted clients involved in mediation and arbitration. I am a trained collaborative lawyer, familiar with and open to all dispute resolution options, enabling me to help clients choose the most appropriate options to move matters forward.

My commitment to Resolution has seen me elected to both the Hampshire Resolution committee as well as being elected Chairperson of Hampshire Young Resolution committee (YRes) ensuring that I am at the forefront of developments in family law.

Examples of my experience include:

• advising in respect of financial settlements involving complex trust and company structures, significant pension provision (including Armed Forces pension provision), personal injury awards and foreign property;
• assisting to advise and draft multi-million pound pre-nuptial agreements;
• acting for parents to resolve living and educational arrangements for their children to include obtaining a court order that her client’s son live with him having previously lived with his mother;
• acting for fathers in contested court proceedings to obtain permission to move to different countries with their children; and
• resolving cohabitation disputes and drafting deeds of separation following the same.