Forster Dean Solicitors in Runcorn (Cheshire)

Our Runcorn office is at Devonshire House, Devonshire Square, in the Old Town, walkable from Runcorn railway station and a short drive from Halton Lea and the Mersey Gateway.

We act for clients across Runcorn, Halton and Cheshire on divorce and family law, employment law, conveyancing, wills, LPAs and probate, and personal injury.

Call 0151 422 0982.

Conveyancing in Runcorn

Runcorn is an unusual property market, and it repays local knowledge.

The town is an old riverside settlement wrapped around a 1960s and 70s new town, with more recent development at Sandymoor, Daresbury and Preston Brook layered on top. That produces three quite different sets of conveyancing issues in one postcode:

• Old Town and Halton Village. Older, sometimes unregistered or partly registered titles, Victorian terraces, conversions, and the occasional boundary that does not match the plan.
• New town estates— Castlefields, Palacefields, Murdishaw, Beechwood, Brookvale. Estate layouts with shared access ways, service strips, and rights of way that need checking properly rather than assuming.
• Newer developments — Sandymoor, Preston Brook, Daresbury. Estate management companies, estate rentcharges and service charges on freehold houses, unadopted roads, and new build contracts with fixed exchange deadlines that leave no room for a slow file.

Add the industrial heritage along Weston Point and Rocksavage, where former chemical works make contaminated land enquiries a real consideration, and searches through Halton Borough Council, and there is a clear advantage to instructing a firm that handles Halton titles constantly.

We deal with sales, purchases, remortgages, transfers of equity, shared ownership, new build and leasehold, and we will give you a written quote with our fee and each disbursement listed separately.

Current Stamp Duty Land Tax in England: nothing up to £125,000; first-time buyer relief up to £300,000 with partial relief to £500,000; a 5% surcharge where you will end up owning more than one residential property.

Divorce and financial settlements

Divorce is a no-fault process. You do not have to give a reason, your spouse cannot contest it in any meaningful sense, and the timetable is fixed: a minimum of 20 weeks from application to conditional order, then six weeks to the final order.

The mistake we see most often is treating the divorce as the whole job. It is not. Ending the marriage does not end financial claims, and without a financial consent order approved by the court, an ex-spouse can bring a claim years afterwards — after an inheritance, a business sale or a lottery win. We deal with:

• the family home: sale, transfer, deferred sale until children finish school, mortgage capacity
• pensions, frequently the second largest asset and the one people give away without realising, through pension sharing or offsetting
• savings, investments, business interests and debts
• spousal maintenance and child maintenance where the CMS formula does not fit
• consent orders and, where agreement cannot be reached, financial remedy proceedings

Family law

We advise on arrangements for children — who they live with, how time is divided, holidays and schooling — and on what happens when one parent wants to move away with them.

We act urgently where there has been domestic abuse, applying for non-molestation and occupation orders, including on an emergency basis.

We also advise unmarried couples, whose position is significantly weaker than married couples’ and often misunderstood, and prepare cohabitation agreements, separation agreements and pre-nuptial agreements.

Employment law

Runcorn’s employment base — chemicals and manufacturing at Weston Point and Rocksavage, distribution and logistics along the M56 corridor, science and technology at Daresbury — brings a steady flow of restructuring, shift and contract issues, and settlement agreements.

If you are an employee, we advise on unfair and constructive dismissal, redundancy process and selection, discrimination, disciplinaries and grievances, whistleblowing, and settlement agreements.

Two changes to note. From 1 October 2026, the time limit for most employment tribunal claims rises from three months to six. For dismissals from 1 January 2027, the unfair dismissal qualifying period falls from two years to six months, and the cap on unfair dismissal compensation is removed. Even so, taking advice early is far more useful than taking it near the deadline.

If you are an employer, we advise on contracts and handbooks, handling conduct and capability fairly, redundancy consultation, TUPE on outsourcing, and defending claims.

Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and probate

Wills.Without one, the intestacy rules decide. A spouse receives personal possessions, the first £322,000 and half of the remainder, with children taking the other half. An unmarried partner receives nothing. Stepchildren receive nothing. We also advise on wills where there are children from a previous relationship, a business, or a beneficiary who is vulnerable or on means-tested benefits.

Lasting Powers of Attorney.A property and financial affairs LPA and a health and welfare LPA cover entirely different ground and most people need both. Each costs £92 to register and takes around 8 to 10 weeks. They can only be made while you still have capacity — afterwards, the only option is a Court of Protection deputyship, at £432 to apply plus a £100 assessment fee and annual supervision of £35 to £320, taking several months during which nobody can lawfully access the funds.

Probate.We can administer an estate in full or assist an executor with the parts they would rather not handle.

Working with us

Legal work goes wrong most often through poor communication rather than poor law. So: you get the name of the person handling your file and a way of reaching them directly. We tell you at the outset what the likely cost is and what could change it. We explain what a document means before you sign it, in language that does not require a law degree.

We will also tell you when the answer is that you should not pursue something. A claim that will cost more to run than it can recover, a dispute better settled than fought, a property purchase where the sensible step is to renegotiate rather than press on — saying so is part of the job.

Most matters can be run entirely by phone, email and post. Devonshire Square is there for when you would rather talk to someone across a desk, which for a divorce, a will or a distressing employment situation is often exactly what people want.

Areas we cover from Runcorn

Runcorn Old Town, Halton Village, Halton Lea, Castlefields, Norton, Murdishaw, Palacefields, Brookvale, Beechwood, Weston, Weston Point, Higher Runcorn, Sandymoor, Preston Brook, Daresbury, Moore, Frodsham, Helsby and across the Mersey Gateway to Widnes.

Forster Dean Solicitors, Devonshire House, Devonshire Square, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1AW Phone: 0151 422 0982 Email: enquiries@forsterdean.co.uk

I’m buying on a newer estate in Sandymoor — is there anything I should watch for?

Estate rentcharges and management company service charges on freehold houses are common on newer Runcorn developments, along with roads that have not yet been adopted. They are all manageable, but you should know about them before exchange rather than after.

Do I need to come to the office?

No. We can deal with most matters by phone, email and post. The office is there for when you would rather sit down with someone.

Can you do the divorce and the finances together?

Yes, and we would encourage it. The financial order is the part that protects you long-term.

Do you cover Frodsham and Helsby?

Yes, along with the rest of Halton and this part of Cheshire.