Will the solicitor I meet at the first appointment be the one who runs my file?

Yes. The Tunbridge Wells office is small by design. The solicitor you meet at the opening conversation is the solicitor who runs the file from instruction through to the consent order, the final hearing or the post-order Form A. Day to day work may be supported by a paralegal or trainee, but the solicitor stays on the file and signs every letter and every position statement.

What does Resolution mean for the way you handle a divorce?

Resolution is the family-law professional body, and every solicitor here is a member. The Resolution Code of Practice commits us to a constructive, non-confrontational approach: we deal directly with the other side, look first for mediation, hybrid mediation or collaborative law, and reserve contested court proceedings for when the other options have been considered and ruled out. In practice that means fewer months in court, less acrimony, and a smaller final bill for the family.

Do I have to travel to the Hastings office or can I be seen at Calverley Road?

You can be seen at 79 Calverley Road, in the Tunbridge Wells office, by appointment. The Tunbridge Wells line is 01892 502 830. The Hastings and Brighton offices are also available if it is more convenient for you, and every solicitor in the firm takes video appointments by Zoom or Microsoft Teams as standard, with the diary kept in real time.

Do you act on Legal Aid for care proceedings?

Yes, in the cases where Legal Aid is available. We hold the Legal Aid Agency Specialist Quality Mark, which is the contract standard for publicly funded family work. Legal Aid is non-means non-merits tested in care proceedings brought by a local authority against a parent, and we act on that basis for parents who are subject to pre-proceedings PLO letters or to issued care proceedings. For private children law and domestic abuse work, Legal Aid is means and merits tested; we screen at the first appointment.

Can you act on a divorce where one of us owns a business or a farm?

Yes. Financial remedy work where one or both parties holds a trading limited company, a Limited Liability Partnership, or farming land across the Kent and Sussex Weald is a regular part of the practice. We instruct single joint expert accountants and surveyors where the value is in dispute, and we draft consent orders that ring-fence operating capital from the personal settlement so the business survives the divorce.

Elaine Parkes Solicitors, Tunbridge Wells

Four areas of family practice.

Single-discipline family law. No conveyancing, no probate, no employment. Every file is opened, conducted and closed by a solicitor on the Resolution register.

01 / Divorce and finances

Divorce, the financial settlement, pension sharing.

Divorce and dissolution of civil partnership, and the financial order that follows. Pension sharing on divorce, including public-sector schemes and private DC pots; financial remedy work where one or both parties owns a trading company, a partnership, or farming land in Kent or Sussex; spousal periodical payments where capital cannot meet the need. Because every solicitor on the file is a Resolution member, mediation, hybrid mediation and the consent-order route are the default rather than the exception.

02 / Children matters

Child Arrangements, special guardianship, care proceedings.

Private children law, where separating parents need a Child Arrangements Order to record live-with and spend-time-with arrangements, or a Prohibited Steps or Specific Issue Order. Public children law, where Kent County Council or another local authority has brought care proceedings or pre-proceedings PLO meetings. Two of our solicitors hold the Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme panel membership, the senior practitioner standard for this work.

03 / Cohabitation and pre-nups

TOLATA, cohabitation agreements, pre and post-nuptial agreements.

For unmarried couples separating where one party holds the legal title to the home and the other has contributed financially, a Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act application is the route to a fair share. Cohabitation agreements at the start of a relationship to record contributions and intentions in writing. Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements to ring-fence inherited wealth, business assets, or assets brought into a second marriage from a first.

04 / Protection

Non-molestation and occupation orders, domestic abuse.

Emergency non-molestation orders to stop harassment, threats or violence, including without-notice applications where there is immediate risk. Occupation orders to require an abuser to leave the family home or to keep them out. Prohibited Steps Orders where there is a fear that a parent will remove a child from the jurisdiction. We hold the Specialist Quality Mark and act on Legal Aid for eligible domestic abuse and care-proceedings clients.

The practice

Twenty-five years of family work, run from three Sussex and Kent offices.

Elaine Parkes opened the practice in Hastings in 2000 and built it, over twenty-five years, into a three-office family-law specialist. She incorporated the firm in 2014, took the Brighton lease in the early 2020s, and opened the Tunbridge Wells office on Calverley Road shortly after. Elaine retired from the board in January 2025. The firm trades under her name, with Jeremy Gillham as Compliance Officer and the practising solicitors named below.

The practice has only ever done family law. Divorce and the financial order that follows, private and public children matters, cohabitation and pre-nuptial agreements, non-molestation and occupation orders. Every solicitor is a Resolution member. Two of the team hold the Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme panel membership. The firm carries the Specialist Quality Mark for Legal Aid family work.

The Resolution Code of Practice is not a marketing line for this firm. It is how the work is done. We deal directly with the other side, look first for mediation, and reserve contested proceedings for when the other options have been considered. The practice, on its approach to family law

2000 Elaine Parkes opens the family-law practice in Hastings, focused exclusively on divorce, children and finance work.
2014 The practice is incorporated as Elaine Parkes Solicitors Limited (Companies House 09257217).
2020 The firm is authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as a licensed body for all legal services (SRA 618658).
2022 A second office opens in Brighton, then a third on Calverley Road in Royal Tunbridge Wells.
2025 Elaine Parkes retires from the board after twenty-five years; Jeremy Gillham continues as Compliance Officer and the firm trades under her name.
Today Five practising solicitors. Every one a Resolution member. Two hold the Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme panel membership. The Specialist Quality Mark is held for Legal Aid work.

The solicitors who run the files.

The solicitor you meet at the opening appointment is the solicitor who runs the file. Tunbridge Wells appointments are conducted by the solicitor with the relevant accreditation for the work.

Stephen Long

Solicitor

Children Law accredited

Robert Jempson

Solicitor

SRA 19069 (senior practitioner)

Holly Taylor

Solicitor

Family and children

Sara Pugh

Manager

Tunbridge Wells, Brighton and Hastings operations

Accreditations

Three credentials that shape the work.

The Resolution Code of Practice is the family-law professional body's code; every solicitor here is a member and follows it on every file. The Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme is the senior practitioner panel for children work; two of the team are on it. The Specialist Quality Mark is the Legal Aid Agency's contract standard, which is what allows the firm to act for Legal Aid clients in care proceedings.

Together they are the reason a family on Calverley Road does not need to leave Tunbridge Wells to find a senior family solicitor, or a Children Panel solicitor for a care-proceedings PLO letter, or a firm able to act on Legal Aid for the same work.

Resolution member
firm-wide

Law Society Children Law Accreditation Scheme — Children Law
Accreditation Scheme

Specialist Quality
Mark, Legal Aid

First contact

Tell us, in a paragraph, what the family situation is.

A first contact is usually a short call or a written enquiry. We come back within one working day with the next step, whether that is a first appointment with a named solicitor, a referral to mediation, or signposting to a service better suited to the matter. There is no charge for the first contact and no obligation.

79 Calverley Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2UY. Five minutes' walk from Tunbridge Wells station; the Calverley Road parade is pedestrianised between Camden Road and Grosvenor Road. Open in Google Maps ↗

Frequently asked

Questions clients actually ask at the first contact.

Will the solicitor I meet at the first appointment be the one who runs my file?

Yes. The Tunbridge Wells office is small by design. The solicitor you meet at the opening conversation is the solicitor who runs the file from instruction through to the consent order, the final hearing or the post-order Form A. Day to day work may be supported by a paralegal or trainee, but the solicitor stays on the file and signs every letter and every position statement.
What does Resolution mean for the way you handle a divorce?

Resolution is the family-law professional body, and every solicitor here is a member. The Resolution Code of Practice commits us to a constructive, non-confrontational approach: we deal directly with the other side, look first for mediation, hybrid mediation or collaborative law, and reserve contested court proceedings for when the other options have been considered and ruled out. In practice that means fewer months in court, less acrimony, and a smaller final bill for the family.
Do I have to travel to the Hastings office or can I be seen at Calverley Road?

You can be seen at 79 Calverley Road, in the Tunbridge Wells office, by appointment. The Tunbridge Wells line is 01892 502 830. The Hastings and Brighton offices are also available if it is more convenient for you, and every solicitor in the firm takes video appointments by Zoom or Microsoft Teams as standard, with the diary kept in real time.
Do you act on Legal Aid for care proceedings?

Yes, in the cases where Legal Aid is available. We hold the Legal Aid Agency Specialist Quality Mark, which is the contract standard for publicly funded family work. Legal Aid is non-means non-merits tested in care proceedings brought by a local authority against a parent, and we act on that basis for parents who are subject to pre-proceedings PLO letters or to issued care proceedings. For private children law and domestic abuse work, Legal Aid is means and merits tested; we screen at the first appointment.
Can you act on a divorce where one of us owns a business or a farm?

Yes. Financial remedy work where one or both parties holds a trading limited company, a Limited Liability Partnership, or farming land across the Kent and Sussex Weald is a regular part of the practice. We instruct single joint expert accountants and surveyors where the value is in dispute, and we draft consent orders that ring-fence operating capital from the personal settlement so the business survives the divorce.

Family law at 79 Calverley Road, by appointment.

Four areas of family practice.

Divorce, the financial settlement, pension sharing.

Child Arrangements, special guardianship, care proceedings.

TOLATA, cohabitation agreements, pre and post-nuptial agreements.

Non-molestation and occupation orders, domestic abuse.

Twenty-five years of family work, run from three Sussex and Kent offices.

The solicitors who run the files.

Stephen Long

Robert Jempson

Holly Taylor

Sara Pugh

Three credentials that shape the work.

Tell us, in a paragraph, what the family situation is.

Questions clients actually ask at the first contact.