Direct access child arrangements barristers in Portsmouth.

Portsmouth Combined Court Centre on Winston Churchill Avenue is one of the two principal family court hearing centres for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Designated Family Judge area, sitting alongside Southampton. Private children applications issued by residents of Portsmouth, Southsea, Cosham, Fratton, Havant, Waterlooville, Fareham, Gosport and the surrounding areas are ordinarily allocated between Portsmouth and Southampton depending on listing capacity, with the Isle of Wight Combined Court at Newport used for cases arising on the Island.

FHDRA is normally listed within 4 to 6 weeks of the C100. Portsmouth uses a rolling FHDRA list before a district judge or magistrates on the Family Panel, with a Cafcass Family Court Adviser attending. If safeguarding indicates a fact finding is required, the case is timetabled out to a contested hearing, generally at Portsmouth or Southampton, with directions for schedules of allegations, section 7 or section 37 reports, third-party disclosure from Hampshire Constabulary or Portsmouth City Council, and written evidence in a defined order.

Where the applicant or respondent is a serving member of the Royal Navy based at HMNB Portsmouth, or a Ministry of Defence civilian on deployable duties, the court will consider deployment schedules when fixing final hearing dates. We have prepared position statements for a number of naval personnel who cannot reliably attend contested hearings on standard listing patterns.

Practice Direction 12J of the Family Procedure Rules requires the court to identify at the earliest stage whether allegations of domestic abuse need to be determined before welfare decisions are made. Portsmouth cases regularly involve coercive and controlling behaviour allegations that need to be pleaded on a proper Scott schedule, evidenced from police disclosure (Hampshire Constabulary's ADVICE and DASH records) and tested on cross examination.

Where alienating behaviours are alleged, the court will consider psychological assessment under Part 25 and, in appropriate cases, transfer of residence or a change to the pattern of contact. The Court of Appeal's guidance in Re C ('Parental Alienation' Fact Finding) [2023] EWCA Civ 1354 emphasises that alienation is a description of behaviour and not a syndrome; findings must be made on the facts, not on labels. Counsel's role at the fact finding stage is to frame the schedule accordingly.

Non-molestation and occupation orders are dealt with on the Family Law Act 1996 route rather than under a C100, but Portsmouth family judges routinely case-manage the FLA and the Children Act applications together where the parties are the same. Our clerks can put counsel on both the C100 and the FL401 on the same brief where that is efficient.

Public Access is well suited to private children work in Portsmouth. Most self-funding clients we speak to want a specialist family barrister on the papers at the point of FHDRA, on a fact finding, or at the final hearing, without paying for a solicitor's file to be maintained in between. We provide the client care letter, the fixed fee in writing, and a single point of contact through the clerks.

Typical Public Access fixed fees for Portsmouth cases run from £450 to £900 for an initial conference and drafting of a position statement, £1,200 to £2,500 for FHDRA attendance and preparation, and £3,500 to £8,000 for a two-day contested fact finding. Final hearings are quoted individually once the Cafcass report and bundle are available.

Where the case is not suitable for Public Access — for example, care proceedings brought by Portsmouth City Council under section 31 of the Children Act, or complex international relocation with heavy disclosure — we will say so at the enquiry stage and, where useful, suggest a Portsmouth or Southampton family firm to lead.