THE ROLE OF SOLICITORS IN DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS*
| Date | 01 January 1978 |
| Published date | 01 January 1978 |
| Author | Mervyn Murch |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1978.tb00784.x |
THE
ROLE
OF
SOLICITORS
IN
DIVORCE
PROCEEDINGS
*
PART
I1
7.
The solicitor’s role in relation to children of the family
Does the partisan stance adopted by
so
many solicitors limit
their capability to consider the interests of the children separately
from those of their client? Although solicitors have no direct
responsibility for their client’s children it was thought worth
inquiring whether they had actually met them. Parents in both
samples were asked whether their solicitor ever met the children
and ever talked to them about their parents’ divorce. In the first
sample only three parents could remember their solicitor doing
so
and in one of those cases the child was being called as
a
witness.
In this sample
70
per cent. of the solicitors were reported as never
having seen any of the children, and when they did it was usually
by chance because mothers had toddlers with them when they
went for interview.
In
the Court Welfare sample where the issue
of the children was almost always
a
central feature of the case
and one might have expected more contact between solicitors
and children, the reverse was the case. Of these parents,
80
per
cent. reported their solicitors never having met the children.
Indeed, the data suggests that the older the children become the
less likely solicitors are to meet them, even though children of
10
years of age or more often have very decided views about such
matters as where they should live and about access.
It follows therefore that most solicitors see the child’s interests
through the eyes of the parents they represent. Within these
terms, how much concern about their children did parents feel
their solicitors showed? The evidence about this comes only from
the second Court Welfare sample, and may not be as representative
as one would like. Nevertheless, when these parents were asked
what had been their solicitor’s main concern, matters concerning
the children predominated, as Table
6
(on p.
26)
shows.
In order to classify the way parents perceived the role of their
solicitor in relation to their children those in the Court Welfare
sample were asked the following question
4:
“If
you had any worries about the way that arrangements
for the children were working out in the future, to whom
would you go-Court Welfare Officer or Solicitor, or neither?
”
~~
*
This article
is
part of a larger research project entitled “The Circumstances
of
Families in Divorce Proceedings
”
which was funded by the Social Science Research
Council.
4
Detailed Andings about parents’ views of Court Welfare Oflicers
will
be
reported separately.
25
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