By 
- The message arrived and now you cannot think straight about the children.
- One conversation, and the next fortnight stops feeling like a cliff edge.
- Call today and leave knowing exactly what happens next.
If you are looking for family lawyers in Brighton because your family case is heading for a court on William Street or Edward Street, we can help with the children, the divorce and the money. Brighton is its own Designated Family Judge area on the South East circuit. For children work, GOV.UK lists Brighton County Court on William Street as the single point of entry. Because Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority, any social care involvement is Brighton & Hove City Council's, not a county council's.
Covering Brighton
You do not have to travel to us
Distance is not what decides whether we can help you. This is how working with us from Brighton actually works.
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A free first conversation By phone or video, at a time that fits your day. Nothing to travel to.
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Then we work around your week Phone, video and email through the whole matter, arranged around work and around children.
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In person, whichever suits you Pre-booked face-to-face appointments can be arranged in Brighton, or at your nearest office if you would rather come to us.
Your nearest office is Kabir Family Law London.
Family lawyers in Brighton: the areas we cover
Wherever you are in and around Brighton, you are within our working area. Pre-booked face-to-face appointments can be arranged.
- Kemptown
- Whitehawk
- Woodingdean
- Ovingdean
- Rottingdean
- Moulsecoomb
- Bevendean
- Coldean
- Hollingdean
- Hollingbury
- Patcham
- Withdean
- Westdene
- Hangleton
- Portslade
- Hove
Who covers Brighton
Client Team
Partner & Family Law Strategist
Family Law Consultant (Divorce, Children & TOLATA)
Complex Children Specialist & Client Support
You will not be passed to a call handler. Brighton work skews towards private children matters and disputes over parental responsibility, often alongside Front Door for Families involvement, so you are matched to someone who runs specific issue and child arrangements applications at the Brighton venue.
What a medical treatment case from Brighton actually involves
Two parents with parental responsibility disagree about a proposed treatment. A known objection halts it, so the court decides whether it may lawfully proceed. The route is a specific issue order under Children Act 1989 s.8. From Brighton it is issued at Brighton County Court.
The choice between these is governed by Children Act 1989 s.1(1) — the paramountcy of the child’s welfare — applied through the welfare checklist in s.1(3), and constrained by s.1(5) and by s.9(5). The matter was resolved by the court making a specific issue order under section 8 of the Children Act 1989. The order determined the parental-responsibility question that had prevented the clinical pathway from progressing, allowing the child’s care to move forward in accordance with the court’s welfare decision.
Outcomes turn entirely on the facts of each case. Nothing here is a prediction or a promise about any other case.
Which court will hear a family case from Brighton?
The Family Court sitting at Brighton County Court on William Street takes the city’s family work, and GOV.UK lists that venue for adoption, children, divorce and domestic violence. GOV.UK records only Brighton County Court, and not the city’s second family venue, as the single point of entry for children work. That second venue is Brighton-Hearing Centre on Edward Street, which GOV.UK also lists as a Family Court and which additionally covers FGM and forced marriage applications. Naming the wrong Brighton venue on your papers costs you a rejected application and a fortnight you cannot afford to lose.
What does Brighton having its own Designated Family Judge area mean for your case?
The judiciary lists Brighton as a Designated Family Judge area in its own right, on the South East circuit. Listing decisions, local practice on urgent applications and the way work is allocated between judges are therefore settled for Brighton, rather than inherited from a larger regional centre. It is also why guidance written around a London listing pattern can quietly mislead you about how quickly your case will actually move.
Which council deals with children’s social care in Brighton?
Brighton & Hove City Council does. Brighton and Hove has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997, so children’s social care here does not sit with a county council, even though the city is ceremonially in East Sussex. Concerns and referrals go to the council’s Front Door for Families, which includes the multi-agency safeguarding hub. The thresholds it applies are set out in the Brighton & Hove Family Help Right Support at the Right Time Framework. If a Brighton school or GP has already made a referral, Front Door for Families is holding your file, and your advice has to be built around that.
Should you wait for a William Street date before calling divorce specialists in Brighton?
No. The time to call is before you agree anything in writing, and before Brighton County Court fixes a date. Once a disclosure position has been taken, or a pattern of arrangements has run for a few months, the Brighton court is being asked to look at a settled state of affairs rather than an open question. Under Children Act 1989 s.1(2) the court must treat delay as prejudicial to a child’s welfare, and the s.11(1) timetable only starts once your application is issued at Brighton County Court.
Appointments with family lawyers in Brighton: in the city, at our London office or by video
We do not have an office in Brighton; our nearest office is in London. Pre-booked face-to-face appointments can be arranged in Brighton or at our London office, whichever suits you better. Most of a Brighton matter is run by phone, video and email in any event, and where a hearing is listed it is listed at the Brighton venue, not in London.
Ask family lawyers in Brighton which venue your case belongs in
More reading is not the next step, and an early call is what stops a case being shaped entirely by the other side’s version. If you are looking for divorce specialists in Brighton, or for help with a decision about your child, call 0330 094 5880 and tell us what has happened. You will get a straight answer about which Brighton venue your case belongs in, what a realistic timetable looks like, and what to do this week.
Not sure which court will deal with your case? You can check on the government’s Find a court or tribunal service.
![Prest v Petrodel [2013] UKSC 34: What It Really Decided](https://www.kabirfamilylaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Prest-v-Petrodel-1024x572.jpg)
![Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42: What It Decided](https://www.kabirfamilylaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Radmacher-v-Granatino-1024x572.jpg)
