Vanessa Gardiner
Partner
Children Disputes | Cohabitation Agreements | Domestic Abuse | Family | Family Dispute Resolution | Injunctions and Emergency Remedies | International Family | Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements | Separation & Divorce
About Vanessa
Vanessa is a Partner in our Family law team in Oxford with extensive experience in all aspects of family and matrimonial law.
Practicing in family law for the last 17 years I have a wide range of experience across all private family law matters. I have been a trained collaborative lawyer since 2010 and regularly provide legal advice alongside clients working together in mediation.
Vanessa supports and understands the benefits for the family as a whole of practising in a conciliatory manner, with lawyers and clients working on a face to face basis. She always practises with integrity and creativity to achieve bespoke settlements and arrangements whether in divorce/separation and financial matters or with child arrangements.
Vanessa is experienced working with clients experiencing high conflict behaviour from narcissistic personality types and with mental health challenges. Also she has spent her career working with clients experiencing all levels of domestic abuse whether financial, emotional, psychological or physical towards adults and children.
Vanessa is also supportive of entering into Pre and Post-Nuptial Agreements, as well as other relationship agreements including Cohabitation Agreements to achieve self regulation of marital and relationship finances. She is also experienced in preparing and enforcing Nuptial and Relationship Agreements.
Vanessa has detailed experience of the family justice system and is seasoned at case managing litigation in both financial and children matters.
Vanessa is experienced in all aspects of family and matrimonial law including:
- divorce
- separation
- complex high net worth financial and property disputes, including intervener proceedings and financial settlement after a foreign divorce
- pre- and post-nuptial agreements
- children arrangements
- domestic abuse
Memberships:
- Resolution
- Thames Valley Collaborative Family Lawyers POD
- Thames Valley Family Lawyers Society
Press
Recent work highlights:
Co-worked on a pre-nuptial agreement with combined assets including two businesses, capital and investments exceeding £2 billion.
Dealt with variation of spousal maintenance orders, seeking capitalisation orders, remittance of arrears, exclusion of bonuses and obtaining dismissal of a variation application by a husband seeking to withdraw financial support.
Dealt with divorce and financial matters with intervener involvement and obtained injunctive relief through s37 applications to protect capital assets against dissipation and reversal of transactions, also material non-disclosure and other conduct issues.
Experience with private FDRs and contributing to agricultural case culminating in a five-day arbitration tribunal in divorce and financial proceedings.
"Vanessa acted recently for a litigant in financial remedy proceedings... There were limited assets in the case, and they were all required to provide financial security for the family; it was therefore paramount that the legal costs remained proportionate. Vanessa’s ability to conduct the case with this in mind but also with thoroughness and competence was striking... It is without doubt because of Vanessa’s exceptional abilities that the case was concluded by agreement at a private FDR and without either side having incurred the type of costs that might otherwise have depleted the limited funds available. "
"Wouldn’t have got through my divorce without her!"
Learn more about the work Vanessa specialises in:
Complexities in family law - thinking outside the box
Is it time that we all started thinking outside the box?
How can families in need of support continue to seek resolutions when so much is changing around them? Is it time that we all started thinking outside the box?
