Between October and December 2025, there were almost 24,000 divorce applications made in England and Wales, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Engaging the services of a divorce consultant or coach can help make the process easier and less emotionally draining. Some might be able to direct clients to the best barrister for the job or dial down the temperature during roundtable meetings to keep proceedings within mediation.
Others can help parents and partners work through their emotions and prepare them for life beyond their divorce, equipping them with effective coping strategies.
Those featured in this year’s Spear’s rankings are some of the most experienced names in their fields. They include solicitors and barristers-turned-divorce consultants such as Laura Rosefield and David Margo who are able to give insights into the legal process and untangle the jargon. Meanwhile, Harry Gates and Samantha Woodham, both active barristers at 4PB, sit alongside counsel to assist with mediation and strategy.
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Some advisers like Claire Field at the Parenting Apart Programme, place children at the heart of divorce. ‘We’re not here to do a post-mortem (on the relationship),’ she tells Spear’s. ‘This is your opportunity to focus on the needs of your children and to allow your children to also have a voice.’
Explore the other rankings within the 2026 Spear’s Family Law Indices:
- The best family lawyers for high-net-worth clients
- The best family lawyers in the US for high-net-worth clients
- The best family lawyers in the Middle East for high-net-worth clients
- The best family law barristers for high-net-worth clients
Trends in 2026
The impact on children
In the event of a divorce, advisers tell Spear’s that they regularly see disagreements emerge between parents over priorities and what is best for their children. The phasing in of child-focused courts (previously known as the Private Law Pathfinder initiative) across England and Wales – where the child and their welfare will be central to family law proceedings – reflects a marked shift towards recognising the impact of divorce on children.
[See also: Will ‘child-focused courts’ help or hinder the UK’s backlogged legal system?]
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Where before divorce, parents might be united in their approach towards parenting and what is best for their children, now their priorities might be different. ‘In order to really help and protect children, we must help parents first and foremost,’ Field tells Spear’s. ‘When parents aren’t able to communicate about their kids, children lose their identity, their own self-worth and they then become very anxious and vulnerable, leading to emotional harm.’
‘Lowering the temperature’ on divorce
The era of high-conflict litigation has passed and has made way for more amicable ways to divorce – from mediation taking place around the same table to the rise of no-fault divorce. A client of divorce consultant Laura Rosefield describes her services as ‘litigation in a hug’, which she sees as a robust strategy and excellent legal knowledge underpinned by empathy and understanding.
But a major challenge for divorce advisers is also navigating animosity. Harry Gates at The Divorce Surgery notes that not every divorcing partner ‘wants to be fair to their spouse’. Therefore, a guiding hand during mediation is needed to lower the temperature in the room and to keep clients’ minds focused on finding a solution.
Gates’ comments reflect a wider trend towards amicable separation and keeping things out of court. For families who have the means to seek alternative forms of dispute resolution, arbitration and private FDRs retain families’ privacy while being solved swiftly. In the 2026 Spear’s family law survey, which canvassed 60 of the UK’s leading family lawyers and barristers, 74 per cent of respondents said alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a very or extremely useful tool in HNW divorce.
Life beyond divorce
Our research this year also found that coaches and consultants are increasingly shifting the focus towards what a client’s life can look like after divorce, especially emphasising the need for general mental health and wellbeing support.
‘[Clients] come out [of the coaching process] feeling like they have not just survived, but they have really thrived,’ Claire Macklin tells Spear’s. ‘They have created a life that is for them, and they often say that they are happier than they were before.’
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- The best divorce consultancy and support service providers: some names to know
- The best divorce consultancy and support service providers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best divorce consultancy and support service providers: some names to know
Ceri Griffiths
- Focus: Assisting financially vulnerable women
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Willow Brook Lifestyle Financial Planning
Financial planner Ceri Griffiths came to Spear’s via a recommendation from a senior divorce lawyer. Griffiths’ boutique firm, Willow Brook Lifestyle Financial Planning, a partner practice of St. James’s Place, specialises in supporting women through the process of divorcing from a richer partner. ‘The work that I do is very much around informing the wife so that she feels very knowledgeable and on the same playing field,’ she says.
To help her clients navigate the separation process, she uses the ‘WISE’ methodology: a bespoke approach that involves improving the client’s financial confidence, helping them to articulate what they hope to gain from the divorce, analysing and deconstructing financial offers from their former partner, and assisting them through investment decisions upon receipt of any post-divorce sum.
Read Ceri Griffiths’s full profile on Spears500.com
Laura Rosefield
- Focus: Strategic and tactical advice
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Rosefield Divorce Consultancy
‘One of my clients describes it as “litigation in a hug”,’ says Laura Rosefield, founder of and senior partner at Rosefield Divorce Consultancy. A former criminal barrister, Rosefield and her team aim to guide divorcing clients through the legal process, providing practical, actionable advice.
A key aspect of her role is bridging the gap between a client and their lawyer, advising on matters such as alternative dispute models, preparations for court and for discussions with solicitors, and financial remedy and Children Act proceedings.
Read Laura Rosefield’s full profile on Spears500.com
Caroline Curtis-Dolby
- Focus: Psychotherapy and ’emotional governance’
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Belgravia Therapy
Psychotherapist Caroline Curtis-Dolby practises family emotional governance, a method she developed at her firm Belgravia Therapy, where she works alongside leading family law firms to counsel couples engaged in separation or divorce proceedings, as well as families who are experiencing a crisis.
‘Family emotional governance is really about harmony,’ she tells Spear’s. ‘It’s humanology, and humanology means that we bring a very human side of psychotherapy into what can be a very traumatic and complex situation with families who are in crisis.
Read Caroline Curtis-Dolby’s full profile on Spears500.com
Samantha Woodham
- Focus: One lawyer, one couple model
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: The Divorce Surgery
Hailed by peers as ‘a new and innovative dispute resolution advisory service’ and ‘an important new firm in the family law market’, The Divorce Surgery was founded in 2018 by barristers Samantha Woodham and Harry Gates.
‘What’s different about us is that we created it. We pioneered the service, so we’ve done more of it than anyone else,’ Woodham tells Spear’s. ‘Clients appreciate that, from the get-go, everything is done together … We’re building them towards the advice that they’ll then get from a barrister.’
Read Samantha Woodham’s full profile on Spears500.com
David Margo
- Focus: Demystifying the legal process
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Divorce Solutions
David Margo, founder of Divorce Solutions, says his approach to divorce coaching sets his business apart: ‘We’re not dealing with the emotional side of divorce. We’re giving guidance to people and saying, “Look, you really don’t need to pursue a certain course of action, because it’s going to be really expensive.”’
This pragmatic approach stems from Margo’s background as a commercial lawyer, which allows him to offer valuable insights without providing legal advice. This includes encouraging clients to consider alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, and seeking direct access to barristers.
Read David Margo’s full profile on Spears500.com
Claire Field
- Focus: Child welfare
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Parenting Apart Programme
‘The voice of the child is at the heart of everything we do,’ says Claire Field, describing the Parenting Apart Programme, which provides advice and hands-on support to families undergoing separation, divorce or parental conflict, with a specific focus on the impact on children.
Each Parenting Apart practitioner is a social care consultant, with a duty to protect and safeguard children. Based on her extensive social work experience, Field works to improve the communication skills of parents; reduce stress and anxiety for parents and children; and reduce the length of time that a non-resident parent loses in the relationship with their child.
Read Claire Field’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best divorce consultancy and support service providers: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
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With additional reporting by Alice Coleman.
