Kate Donohue

Kate initially qualified as a solicitor in 2009 specialising in Family Law.  She was previously the regional head of the Family Law department in a nationwide law firm. She transferred to the Bar in order to focus on advocacy.

Divorce

Kate acts for clients on Divorce, Judicial Separation and dissolution of Civil Partnerships.  She has experience of a variety of scenarios including difficulties with service, tracing missing spouses, defending an application to set aside a Decree Absolute, foreign marriages and foreign divorces.

Matrimonial Finances (Ancillary relief)

Kate regularly works on high net worth ancillary relief claims. Recent experience includes a high net worth case involving a matrimonial pot of £7 million and also acting for a lottery winner with a win of £1.4 million.

She has represented a number of clients with niche business interests requiring complex business valuations as well as high value cases with illiquid assets. She has acted for GPs and doctors who have both a private practice and an NHS practice. She also represented the spouse of a dentist who was also a shareholder in numerous dental practices.

She has acted on numerous cases involving large pensions including, NHS, Royal Mail, Police Service and Prison Service pensions.

Kate has also worked on cases involving an intervening party where there were substantial disputes as to the ownership of property and whether it should be included as part of a matrimonial settlement.

She has acted in a number of cases with significant liabilities and limited capital available including where a party has been made bankrupt and the Trustee in Bankruptcy was a party to the proceedings.

Kate also acts in enforcement proceedings; previous cases include successfully evicting a party from the Former Matrimonial Home and removing tenants from a property, enforcing Spousal Maintenance Orders and successfully receiving costs in the above matters.

Children

Kate advises and acts on private and public law applications including Care proceedings, Residence, Contact, Prohibited Steps and Specific Issue Orders.

Examples of Kate’s work include:

• Acting for parents in relation to Child Arrangement Orders (residence and contact)
• Acting for grandparents in applications for Parental Responsibility, Contact and Residence
• Specific Issue Orders including orders in relation to a child’s school
• Prohibited Steps Order when a parent has tried to remove a child from the jurisdiction
• Making a number of emergency applications when children have been retained during Contact
• Acting in a number of cases with an international element including countries outside of the Hague Convention such as the United Arab Emirates
• Regularly represents parties involved in Care Proceedings
• Has had success when acting for parents with children being returned to live with them
• Has a great deal of experience acting for parents with significant mental health problems

Domestic Violence

Kate regularly acts for both Applicants and Respondents in applications for Non-Molestation and Occupation Orders.