Phoenix Law offers a comprehensive, wrap around advice service when dealing with divorce, separation, ancillary relief, maintenance and children issues at all court tiers.
Taking swift action to protect your interests is fundamental in matrimonial law. Very often our solicitors provide advice when a person is contemplating ending a relationship and also in the aftermath of a break up. If you are served with a petition for divorce or ancillary relief application seeking financial remedies we can offer emergency appointments to ensure compliance with time deadlines.
In difficult economic times we recognise that many couples wish to enter into proactive negotiations to settle arrangements in an amicable fashion so that costs are minimised and relations are fostered. We can offer robust advice on matrimonial agreements and applications for a divorce when these agreements are achieved. Equally, when not agreement is reached we can advise on the best avenue to take to ensure effective results are achieved. We work closely with expert matrimonial counsel to ensure your assets are properly valued and protected.
Dissolutions of Civil Partnerships have the same mechanisms of divorce such as apportionment of property, division of pensions and payment of maintenance. We have experience in drafting and executing pre nuptial agreements for prospective civil partners.
Our divorce and dissolution team have specialist and expert experience in annulling civil partnerships in accordance with provisions set out in the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and those entered into in Consular Offices around the world.
As well as advising civil partners about their rights upon the dissolution of the partnership, we also advise surviving partners about their rights in inheritance disputes.
Increasingly in todays complicated world people are seeking advices on prenuptial agreements. We provide drafting and negotiation expertise for those considering marriage or entering into a civil partnership to protect existing assets. These agreements can be used to demonstrate the parties’ intentions to the Court, and although not currently legally enforceable, they can be highly persuasive and influential in the resolution of divorce or dissolution cases should they come about.
Should a partner start to harass, pester or intimidate, we offer an understanding but robust service and can take swift action to protect you by way of emergency applications for non-molestation orders and occupations orders to the Domestic Proceedings Court.
Sinead Marmion
Senior Associate
Sinead Marmion
Sinead is a Senior Associate with expertise in dealing with asylum and immigration cases. She has an LLM in Human Rights Law at Queen’s University Belfast and is fluent in French.
Sinead has built up an expertise in immigration and asylum work, with specialism in unaccompanied children’s claims.
Judicial Review
Sinead has specialism in public law challenges in immigration cases through judicial review. She has successfully challenged the Home Office’s decision in respect of a minor asylum-seeker’s age assessment, which is the first of its kind in the jurisdiction. She has a number of judicial review challenges ongoing in respect of the Home Office’s delays in deciding asylum claims within a reasonable time. She is also acting in the first challenge in Northern Ireland in respect of how the rights of asylum seekers interact with the rights enshrined in Article 2 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Sinead is acting in a judicial review against the PPS in the Divisional Court in respect of a failure to prosecute forced labour and slavery of fishermen in a Northern Irish port, which is also the first case of its kind in Northern Ireland. She is instructed in a number of judicial reviews against the Home Office in their failure to recognise her client as victims of trafficking. She has also acted in appeals from the High Court to the Court of Appeal.
Tribunals
She has represented clients at the First tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal, and Asylum Support Tribunal. This includes successful challenges to refusals of asylum in LGBT cases, political persecution cases and religious persecution cases. She has also had successes in challenging refusals of granting of residence cards by the Home Office on derivative rights of residence cases through the Zambrano route. Sinead has also represented clients who have faced destitution due to unlawful refusals to grant asylum support through representation at the Asylum Support Tribunal.
Sinead also provides legal support on family and criminal defence cases arising from her immigration work.
Advice
She works closely with Barnardo’s Independent Guardian Service in dealing with cases for unaccompanied minors. Sinead also works with victims of trafficking and modern slavery and works closely with Flourish NI. Sinead is also retained by South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP), which is Northern Ireland’s largest migrant organisation run by veteran civil rights activist, Bernadette McAliskey. Through her work with STEP, Sinead advises on complex cases involving Europeans and their family members applying to the European Settlement Scheme.
Sinead has experience in a wide range of immigration related matters including; entry clearance, family reunion, spouse and fiancé visas, family visas, European Economic Area (EEA), visit visas, and settlement and naturalisation applications.
Sinead obtains instruction from clients who are in detention in Larne House Detention Centre, often facing removal and deportation. This can lead to bail applications, asylum claims, judicial review, urgent injunctions, and unlawful detention claims.
Membership
Sinead has assisted on setting up the first Northern Ireland regional working group for the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA).
She is also Chair of the Law Society’s Immigration Practitioners’ Group.
Sinead has recently been appointed as Module Coordinator for the Immigration module on the Public Law & Tribunals course in the Institute of Professional Legal Studies in Queen’s University Belfast.
Sinead is a member of Phoenix Law’s wellbeing committee.