One of the UK 's leading specialist family law practices, in its 10th successive year of growth, has announced a new partnership structure.

Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, Cardiff , was founded with just three solicitors in 1996 as the first law firm in Wales devoted entirely to family law.

Growth has been such that it expects turnover to reach more than £1.6m next financial year while its staff numbers will have increased to almost 30, including 14 lawyers.

The firm also announces that one of its four partners, Wendy Hopkins, is retiring from this partnership. Founding partner Melanie Hamer and fellow partners Thea Hughes and Debbie Frazer will continue the partnership, which is based in Windsor Place , Cardiff city centre.

Melanie Hamer said, “It had for a long time been our dream to set up a niche family law practice and clearly we are extremely happy with the way our team of lawyers has developed since 1996 and secured a reputation for the firm as one of the country's leading niche practices.

“While our fee income gives an indication of the way the firm has developed, I am more pleased at the way we are acknowledged for the type of service we provide.

“We cover all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, children matters, finances and services for the elderly and we are committed to dealing with matters in a non-adversarial way.”

“We have a management team of myself, Thea and Debbie who are committed to adopting the same approach that has helped us develop Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice to this stage. I believe we are one of the strongest firms in the UK in the field of family law.”

Melanie has been a member of the Law Society's Children's Panel since 1996, enabling her to represent children. She was one of the first two solicitors in Wales to gain entry to the Solicitors Family Law Association specialist panel. Her speciality on the panel is advocacy and children matters.

Thea Hughes qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and has since then specialised in all aspects of law. Her background is with Eversheds, Cardiff , from where she went on to head up the family department in a busy office of a large South Wales law firm.

Thea joined this firm in 1996 and became a partner in 1997. She is a member of the Law Society's Family Law Panel.

Debbie Frazer joined the firm in the Autumn of 2001. She qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and since then has specialised in family law. She is the legal advisor and a trustee for Family Mediation, Cardiff , and sits on the Cardiff Family Proceedings Court User Group. Her specialities are financial and children matters.

In December last year the practice became one of the first firms in the UK to provide a new law service for same sex marriage partners.

The Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice has appointed Rhian Howells as partner.

Ms Howells, who qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and has been a member of the Advanced Family Law Panel since 2002, was head of family law at David & Snape, Bridgend. She joins the Cardiff firm which has a staff of 30 including 14 lawyers.

Partner Melanie Hamer said "Rhian is one of South Wales's most respected family lawyers".

"She joins us in our 10th year in practice and further strengthens our reputation as a leading niche firm. It is wonderful to have on board with us someone of Rhian's calibre and she will be able to help us expand even further over the coming years."

Welsh couples are clearly not in the same financial league as Tom Cruise and fiancée Katie Holmes, who this week signed a £22m pre-nuptial agreement. Lawyer Thea Hughes, Partner at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, explains that people tying the knot are increasingly keen on following the path of such superstars.

No couple ever enters into marriage expecting it to end in divorce, but take one look at Tom Cruise's decision to demand a prenuptial agreement and you'll see why interest in these agreements is becoming increasingly common.

To promise his future wife some £22m in case their marriage ends in divorce is clearly very generous, but in terms of Cruise's total wealth, it represents only a percentage of what he has earned or is likely to earn in the future.

Now of course not everyone has the fabulous wealth of Cruise at stake. However, if what we read in the celebrity pages is true, then he certainly intends to do everything to keep it. And more and more of us want to follow his lead.

Most people shy away from pre-nuptial agreements precisely because they are afraid of being negative about the long-term prospects about marriage; that perhaps the agreement will cast some sort of spell on their marriage.

But think about it; most people would not do anything else in this day and age without having some sort of insurance, so why should something as important as marriage be any different?

As family lawyers, we are often asked about the possibility of helping a couple make a pre-nuptial agreement before entering into a marriage. The normal reason for asking is that at least one of the parties to the intended marriage wishes to preserve previously acquired assets from the jurisdiction of the divorce courts.

The increase in the number of such requests is, I believe, a direct result of developments such as the Cruise-Holmes factor and the resulting influence of television and the widespread exposure of the UK to US law.

The pre-nuptial agreement is a commonplace of US matrimonial law but while it does not yet have the same status in the English courts, the presence of a ‘pre-nup' is being increasingly taken account by the courts here.

Traditionally, the English divorce courts is to look at all the assets of the marriage at the time of the divorce and to distribute them.

This paternalistic approach is very different from the more "free market" approach which prevails in the US and which allows the parties to a marriage more freedom to regulate their own financial affairs in the event of divorce.

English courts take the view that the truth of the matter is that it is extremely difficult if not impossible to foresee all eventualities and later events have a habit of quickly making previous agreements seem very irrelevant.

Say, for instance, a man comes to a marriage with a sizeable fortune and his wife nothing. The man might wish an agreement to the effect that his wife should have no claim on his pre-existing wealth in the event of divorce. Indeed, this is one of the main reasons for wishing to make a pre-nuptial agreement.

The wife might willingly agree to this because she might consider it fair and content to lay claim only to a share of those assets which were built up during the course of the marriage.

If this marriage were to break down after just over a year then the agreement may seem reasonable enough. But should it still be upheld if the marriage had lasted, say, five years and there were children?

Supporters of pre-nuptial agreements argue, on the other hand, that such agreements have many benefits.

For example, they may protect family property and possessions intended to pass down through generations, they may protect parties of different nationalities who hold assets in another country and they will help put financial expectations on the table before the wedding

Thinking this way may seem cynical, but on the other hand it could be seen as a sensible and practical step.

The pre-nuptial agreement is sometimes called a pre marital agreement or more commonly a ‘pre-nup'. Whatever you wish to call it, it is essentially an agreement that is entered into before marriage and which attempts to deal with the couples assets in the event that the marriage breaks down by separation or divorce.

It can also include the provisions for spousal support, the effect on life insurance, pensions and other policies and for many business owners, the provisions for the future split of such a family business.

When you take one out you are proving to each other that you want your marriage to be based on fair and equal grounds. You are showing everything you have, literally laying your cards on the table.

Our experience of our team of family lawyers at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice is that the dividing up of assets often causes most conflict in a break-up.

A pre-nuptial agreement can help in certain circumstances because it allows both parties to agree on a fair and acceptable division of property, personal possessions and financial assets.

Also, couples considering second, or maybe even third, marriages as in Tom Cruise's case may have particular reason to consider a pre-nuptial agreement. Having lost part of their capital already through divorce they will be more keen to preserve it following a re-marriage.

Although pre-nuptial agreements are not yet legally binding in Britain I would not be surprised if the law begins to accept them increasingly in the years ahead. After all, we do seem to be increasingly adopting many elements of US legislation and lifestyle.

Recently, one or two judges have been paying attention to pre-nuptial agreements although they still must take all circumstances into account.

I also have little doubt that Hollywood celebrities will enter into pre-nups as a matter of course. With society's devotion to our film and TV stars, I see the numbers of ‘pre-nups' increasing dramatically in the years ahead and family law practices such as ours in the forefront of providing advice on the topic

Whatever one’s political persuasion, Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister was certainly memorable. But one of her last acts, which was to set up the Child Support Agency (CSA), will go down as one of her worse decisions.

First mooted by Thatcher in 1990, although not established until 1993, the CSA was designed to assess child maintenance and enforce collection from absent parents, replacing the court system which was becoming increasingly overloaded.

There was chaos when its computer system collapsed because it was not ready. Problems with the system persisted throughout and when Sir David Henshaw delivered his report on Britain’s child support system this week, the agency has an estimated £3 billion in unrecovered debt and an astonishing backlog of 333,000 cases.

It has been an unmitigated disaster, taking an average of 26 weeks to process a child support claim, while at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice we have seen many cases that have taken well over a year to go through the system. This is clearly completely unacceptable.

Our experience has been that the thoroughness of the CSA has been found wanting on many occasions.

For example, we have acted for a divorced woman, whose former husband is self-employed and he claims to be financially struggling. As a result the CSA makes him pay child maintenance of just £5 a week.

This same father drives around South Wales in a top-of-the-range Porsche.

Where is the CSA’s system to prevent such a blatant disregard for his responsibilities?

Looking at the bigger picture, in June last year the National Audit Office (NAO) said that millions of pounds worth of reforms put in place in 2003 had failed to produce any significant improvement.

In 2004 its chief executive, Doug Smith, announced he was resigning, admitting that he was "seriously disappointed" with its performance.

Even as far back as July 1999,the then Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling said the CSA had "failed" and added, "It doesn't help parents who want to pay and it isn't tough enough on those who won't."

It has taken the present Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton to finally bite the bullet, announcing the CSA will eventually be replaced by a smaller body, while announcing other reforms such as including a law compelling fathers to register as parents on the birth of a child.

However, none of these changes will happen immediately.

The Government will now consult and publish a White paper in the autumn. Hutton says he wants a simpler system that encourages parents to make their own maintenance arrangements, ‘with firm and effective state intervention where that is not possible.”

He wants the new body to be much smaller than the CSA and deal with fewer cases, as the government tries to shift the emphasis of child support back on to parents reaching their own informal financial agreements.

He promises tougher enforcement measures and a new organisation to deliver child support in the future.

In effect, it seems the CSA is only to be cloned, its sibling simplified and allowed to poke its nose in only where it was invited .

My worry is that this move is more of a rebrand rather than a closure.

And will the organisation be staffed by former CSA employees, who I am afraid to say are mostly desperately under-trained and ill-prepared for the difficult situations that they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Existing powers to confiscate the driving licences of non-payers will be augmented by new powers to confiscate passports.

The most dramatic development would also see those who repeatedly fail to make maintenance payments identified via the media and possibly the DWP's website.

Such name-and-shame schemes are common in parts of the United States, and are certain to cause consternation in the UK.

In summary, this week’s announcement has been a huge admission of failure.

The Government should have acted many years ago to address a system that was failing the most exposed members of our society, ie parents and children whose quality of life was being undermined.

Going forward, our chief concern is whether parents will get clear information quickly about what it means for them.

The last thing needed is for the system to be clouded by further widespread confusion.

The sooner the CSA is scrapped the better; but the new system needs to be fairer, more robust and ensure that the delays and abuses that have plagued it all along are finally brought to an end.

South Wales-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, one of the UK’s leading specialist family law firms, has recruited another three lawyers following a significant increase in demand enjoyed during the last year.

Founded with just three solicitors in 1996 as the first law firm in Wales devoted entirely to family law, it currently employs approximately 30 staff, including 13 lawyers, covering all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, children matters, finances and services for the elderly.

Among the trio of lawyers joining the practice is Tom Allen, who becomes only the second male member of staff at the Windsor Place firm.

Tom, aged 30, joins as an Associate from the family department of Cardiff firm Leo Abse & Cohen. Having spent his childhood in Pembrokeshire, he is a Liverpool University graduate who qualified in 2001. He has experience of a wide range of family law matters including divorce, ancillary relief, trust proceedings and child care proceedings.

Kate Edwards, aged 27, joins Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice as a solicitor from Tayntons in Gloucester. Having qualified fully earlier this year. She is a Swansea University graduate who also attended California State University, where she studied American pre-law and politics.

Claire Cooper, of Cardiff, has joined the practice as a trainee solicitor, having obtained LLB with honours at Swansea University followed by the legal practice course at Cardiff University.

Joint Senior Partner Melanie Hamer said, “As the firm continues to enjoy strong growth, it is more important than ever for us to invest in the future. Earlier this year we undertook the largest intake of trainees at the firm, which was a milestone for Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice.”

“We have further strengthened the practice with these three appointments, including a very experienced lawyer in Tom Allen who we are delighted to welcome as an Associate.”

The adoption of Malawian baby David Banda by Madonna and Guy Ritchie has focussed attention on the plight of children in long term care, both in this country and abroad and created a surge of interest from potential adopters.

But is easy to forget that it is not only children in poorer nations who are in need of adoption – the problem is one that is much closer to home.

Take recent statistics from the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, for example, which state that at the last count there were 4,380 children in the care of local authorities in Wales last year.

Of these, only 238 were placed for adoption, while the average wait for a child from entering the care system to successfully going through the adoption process was three years.

It is this last statistic that often crops up as a problem for would-be adopters; they are concerned that bureaucracy makes the process difficult and unwieldy. In fact, given sound advice from early on in the process, the situation is almost always easier to manage.

So what exactly is adoption in the UK? The answer is that when a child is adopted, the parental responsibility for that child transfers to the adopters and the child is seen in law as being the legitimate child of the adopter, just as if they had been born to that person.

At the same time, the parental responsibility of the birth parents ends. The aim of adoption is to provide a secure new home for children that long term fostering may not achieve.

A child can be adopted by either a single person or a couple regardless of their gender, race, religion or sexuality. Adopters must be over the age of 21 and although there is no upper age limit for adoption, a child will not normally be placed with an adoptive parent where the age gap between them is more than 45 years.

The first step for a person considering adoption is to make contact with their local authority or an adoption agency, such as Barnardo’s for more information.

The law then requires local authorities and adoption agencies to carry out a full assessment of potential adopters. This process usually takes about 6 months and looks at the family background and views of the potential adopter, their experience and reasons for wanting to adopt.

A medical report and references for the adopter need to be provided and confidential enquiries will be made with the police and social services. A report is then put before the Adoption panel, which decides whether to approve the person as an adopter.

Once approval has been given, the local authority or agency match the adopter with a suitable child, taking into account any particular needs the child has, and their background and characteristics. After an introduction process, the child goes to live with their new family. Once they have settled in and lived with the adoptive parent for a set period of time (depending on the type of placement), an application for an adoption order can be made to the Court.

Turning to overseas adoption; my feeling is that this has increased considerably because of the desire of adopters to find babies and much younger children.

Last year, for example, the average age of a child when adopted in Wales was 4 years and 6 months. It is comparatively unusual for new born babies to be available for adoption in the UK and can lead to potential adopters looking abroad. However, the numbers are still not very big. Last year, fewer than 400 children were adopted from a foreign country in England and Wales.

Where a person wishes to adopt a child from overseas, they must satisfy the criteria not just for this country, but for the country the child comes from as well. And the procedure varies from country to country.

Some countries, such as Romania, do not allow children to be adopted overseas at all. If the country the child is living in is a signatory to the Hague Convention, or on the Home Office “Designated List”, the adoption order made in that country will be recognised in this country. If not, it will be necessary to apply to adopt the child in the Courts in this country also.

It is also worth remembering the financial cost of an overseas adoption is usually considerably higher than for a UK adoption because fees will be payable in both countries and because of the cost of travel to and from the country the child is living in. In Madonna’s case this is clearly not an issue, but the process remains the same.

This process is generally longer as once the assessment is carried out in the UK, the information then needs to be passed to the foreign country for their own procedures to be followed. It usually takes between 1-3 years to adopt a child from overseas and can cost around £15,000.

For those interested in adopting abroad, the procedure will vary depending on the country the child is living in. But the first port of call for a potential adopter is still their local authority, or a local adoption agency.

South Wales-based Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, one of the UK’s leading specialist family law firms, has strengthened its practice with the appointment of David James as Associate.

David, aged 39, joins the Cardiff city centre offices of Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice from Cardiff commercial practice, Merrils Ede Solicitors, where he was the Head of its Matrimonial Department.

After being admitted as a solicitor in 1991, David has worked exclusively in family and matrimonial work since then. He is an Advanced Member of the Law Society Family Law Panel and Associate Member of the Family Contact Centre in Cardiff.

He is a specialist in all aspects of family law, including enforcement proceedings, injunctions, Public law Children Act matters, care proceedings and has worked in the majority for private clients.

David joins the Windsor Place, Cardiff, firm Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice which has a staff of 30 including 14 lawyers. He lives in Roath Park, Cardiff, and is a former pupil of Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School, Cardiff.

Partner Melanie Hamer said, “David is one of South Wales’s most experienced family lawyers and has built up an excellent following in this field of law. He joins us in our 10th year in practice and further strengthens our reputation as a leading niche firm, which was also strengthened earlier this year with arrival of new partner Rhian Howells.”

David added, “The team at Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice forms one of the leading practices of its kind in the UK. It is packed with committed and energetic lawyers who are also talented specialists in their field.”

Wendy Hopkins Family Law Practice, Cardiff, was founded with just three solicitors in 1996 as the first law firm in Wales devoted entirely to family law. The firm covers all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, children matters, finances and services for the elderly.