Family Law Solicitors for Harold Wood

Reviewed by Sital Somaiya, Principal Solicitor, Signature Law. Last reviewed 14 October 2026.

If you live in Harold Wood and need advice on divorce, money after separation or where your children will live, Signature Law runs your case from our office at Charter House, 123 South Street, Romford RM1 1NX. We do not have an office in Harold Wood. You can meet your solicitor at our Romford office, or by phone or video. First meetings are at a fixed fee, and we take legal aid for eligible family and children cases. Call 01708 398 851.

Family solicitors for Harold Wood

Your court is in Canary Wharf, not Romford

Harold Wood sits in the London Borough of Havering, so applications about children (form C100) and about money (Form A) are generally issued to the East London Family Court at Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf. There is no family court sitting in Romford.

The first hearing in a children case, the First Hearing Dispute Resolution Appointment, is often short and is sometimes held by video. Final hearings are usually in person. We tell you the format as soon as the court sends the notice of hearing, and a solicitor or barrister attends with you.

Most divorces themselves need no hearing. The application goes through the online HMCTS divorce service and is dealt with on paper.

Havering Council and Cafcass in children cases

Once a C100 application is issued, Cafcass runs safeguarding checks with the police and with the local authority before the first hearing. For a Harold Wood family, that local authority is Havering Council's children's services.

If Havering has been involved with your family before, it will appear in those checks and in the safeguarding letter Cafcass sends to the court. Tell us about it at the first meeting, so it is addressed in your application rather than raised for the first time at court.

If you are worried about a child's safety now, Havering's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub takes referrals directly, separately from any court case.

Protection from domestic abuse

Non-molestation and occupation orders (form FL401) for Harold Wood addresses are also dealt with by the East London Family Court. In urgent cases the application can be made without telling the other person first, and the court can make an order the same day it hears the application.

Evidence of domestic abuse has two further effects: it can make you eligible for legal aid for the wider dispute, and it exempts you from the usual requirement to attend a mediation meeting before applying to court.

Alongside the legal case, Havering's domestic abuse service can provide an independent domestic violence adviser to support you. If you are in immediate danger, call 999.

The family home: Kings Park and Help to Buy

Much of Harold Wood's newer housing is on the Kings Park development, built on the former Harold Wood Hospital site. Many of those homes were bought new, some with a Help to Buy equity loan, and many carry an estate management charge for shared roads and green spaces. On separation, each of these changes the numbers.

The equity loan is repaid as a percentage of the home's value at the time, not the amount originally borrowed. The current valuation has to come first, and the loan is deducted before any equity is divided.

Moving the home into one person's sole name needs more than the mortgage lender's agreement. The equity loan administrator also has to consent, and that request should start early.

Estate charges keep running whoever stays in the home. The financial order should say who pays them from the date of separation, so arrears do not build up against the property.

How to start

Your first meeting covers what you want to achieve, what the court process would look like for your situation, and what it is likely to cost, with a written estimate afterwards. Our family law solicitors in Romford handle every Harold Wood case, and advice is available in Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu as well as English. Call 01708 398 851 to book.

Questions Harold Wood clients ask

Will I have to go to Canary Wharf for a hearing? Possibly. Children and financial hearings for Havering are generally listed at the East London Family Court. Some short hearings are by video, and many cases settle before a final hearing. We confirm the venue once the court lists your case.

Can I meet you in Harold Wood? No. We do not have a Harold Wood office. Meetings take place at Charter House, 123 South Street, Romford, or by phone or video.

My ex has moved out of Havering. Does the court change? Applications about children are generally made to the court covering the area where the children live. If your children live with you in Harold Wood, the case usually stays at the East London Family Court.

I bought on Kings Park with Help to Buy. Can I keep the house? That depends on whether you can take over the mortgage in your sole name and either keep or repay the equity loan. We look at both together, because a lender's agreement is not enough on its own.