Claire Molyneux

Specialisms

After numerous years of helping separating couples resolve both their financial and child arrangements, Claire has worked particularly with parents seeking to make arrangements for their children following separation.  She has years of experience supporting parents through complex court proceedings, as well as working, wherever possible, to help parents make arrangements using dispute resolution options.

In 2018, Claire trained as one of the country’s first parenting co-ordinators.  In this role, she works with parents stuck in longer-term conflict, who are seeking extra support in order to work together collaboratively following a court order or in relation to a parenting agreement, in order to implement the terms.  Claire helped create the website https://parentingcoordinators.co.uk and regularly produces blogs for that site, providing ideas to parents about how to separate while at the same time keeping their child’s best interests at the fore.

As well as her mediation work, Claire works as a child law professional support lawyer, which means she keeps up to date with changes in the law and things affecting parents when they are separating.  She regularly writes blogs, legal journal articles and trains other family solicitors about private child law and related topics, such as domestic abuse. 

Training and employment background

Claire works in part-time positions both as a consultant for national law firm Mills & Reeve LLP and for The Family Mediation Trust.  She enjoys the opportunity to work in both roles, which complement one another well.  While she is relatively new to The Family Mediation Trust, she has worked with her other employer since 2004 and hopes now that she can tot up as many years working with The Family Mediation Trust!

Claire says:

“I know from the published research in this area that children do much better in the immediate and longer term if their parents have managed to work together mindfully and co-operatively from the outset with their children’s best interests in mind.  Although no-one would suggest it is anything but hard work to build a positive co-parenting relationship after separation, knowing that the family’s adult children of the future will be better placed to acknowledge their parents put their needs first in the separation makes the work I do feel really meaningful and worthwhile.”