Charlotte Symes

Charlotte is dual qualified to advise on Australian and English family law. She is a lawyer, mediator and collaborative practitioner, assisting clients who face complex financial, property and parenting issues arising from separation and divorce.

Charlotte has worked at top tier law firms in London and Sydney, bringing a wealth of international experience to her practice at Lander & Rogers. She enjoys the variety that being both a family lawyer and a mediator brings to her work, and firmly believes the two skillsets complement each other. As a family lawyer, she advises clients in contested court proceedings as well as through amicable negotiations. As a family mediator, she works with couples to reach agreements, with mediation taking place either alongside or outside the court process.

Experience

Charlotte advises on all family law matters including:

• jurisdiction disputes for clients able to initiate proceedings in multiple countries
• financial settlements involving valuation of business interests, properties, superannuation and investments, tax issues, treatment of trusts, child support and spousal maintenance
• binding financial agreements
• asset protection including freezing injunctions
• parenting issues involving child arrangements
• relocation or abduction of children within Australia or abroad, including to Hague and non-Hague Convention countries

Many of Charlotte’s clients are international. She has an appreciation of the legal and practical requirements in different jurisdictions, and a strong network of contacts worldwide. Following her time in London, many of Charlotte’s clients have links to England. Charlotte speaks French and her clients will often have links to France. She is familiar with matrimonial property regimes in European countries.

Charlotte is regularly instructed by business owners, and owners of property portfolios, with assets across multiple jurisdictions and complex corporate or trust structures. Having previously worked as a corporate lawyer, she draws on her knowledge of company and property structures when reviewing disclosure in the divorce context. She also supports separating parents with child arrangements and applications for permission to relocate with children, both within Australia and internationally.

Career highlights

Charlotte’s career highlights include:

• Advised a client in a divorce involving assets across several international jurisdictions, resolving valuation disputes and enforcing the final order in an overseas jurisdiction where earlier orders had left her entitlement at risk.
• Advised an entrepreneur on protecting newly acquired wealth following the sale of a business, and separately advised clients balancing family trust structures against competing objectives across generations.
• Restructured a couple's cross-border financial agreement to close a gap between Australia's de facto and marital regimes, securing binding protection in Australia ahead of their relocation there, working alongside their English lawyers.
• Regularly instructed by overseas law firms to advise on the enforceability of nuptial agreements under Australian law.
• Acted in J v J (Return to Non-Hague Convention Country) [2021] EWHC 2412 (Fam), obtaining the summary return of a child from England to India in the absence of a Hague Convention framework between the two countries.
• Settled a jurisdiction dispute by conducting a co-mediation with a mediator based in the second country, in a matter involving connections to France and England.

FAQs

Are rights for cohabitants the same in all countries?

No, and the differences can be significant, particularly between Australia and England. Australia has one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks in the world for cohabiting couples: after two years together, or in certain other circumstances, a de facto partner can generally access the same property and maintenance regime available to married couples. England takes a markedly different approach. There is no such thing as a common law marriage, and cohabitants currently have no automatic right to property adjustment or maintenance from their partner on separation, regardless of how long they have lived together, although reform of this area is under active government consideration. Charlotte regularly advises cohabiting couples with connections to more than one country on what their rights actually are, and where they would stand if the relationship were to end.

Is the country where I got married relevant to where I can get divorced?

Not necessarily. Where you can get divorced depends on factors such as where you and your spouse live now and your nationality, rather than simply where the wedding took place. For couples with international connections, more than one country's courts may have jurisdiction, and the choice can significantly affect the outcome. Charlotte helps clients understand their options early.

Are binding financial agreements (pre-/post-nuptial agreements) binding?

It depends on the country, and on how carefully the agreement is prepared. In Australia, binding financial agreements can be enforceable if specific legal requirements are met, whereas in England and Wales, nuptial agreements are not automatically binding but the courts will be likely to uphold them if both parties entered into the agreement freely, with a full understanding of its implications, and the agreement is fair. An agreement that is binding in one jurisdiction may not be treated the same way in another. Charlotte gives strategic advice where the couple has connections to more than one country.