Grainne Fahy

Grainne advises on all aspects of divorce and financial remedies, including interim applications, appeals, section 37 proceedings, freezing injunctions, maintenance pending suit, enforcement of financial orders, and representation at private FDRs and arbitration.

• Represented a wife and fellow lawyer in proceedings where assets exceeded £60 million.
• Represented the wife of a CEO of a major pharmaceutical company in divorce proceedings concerning assets exceeding £20 million.
• Acted for a senior vice president of a multinational company in a case involving 19 years of post-separation accrual, complex bonus and share structures, and assets exceeding £8 million.
• Advised multiple senior executives and directors in private equity and investment banking with assets exceeding £25 million, including complex carried interest structures, deferred compensation, and bonuses, with disputes concerning liquidity, risk and non-matrimonial assets.
• Represented a homemaker in proceedings involving assets exceeding £32 million spread across three continents.
• Represented numerous “silver separators” aged up to 90 in financial remedy proceedings, including cases requiring sensitive handling of retirement planning and pension division.
• Acted for a wife caring for a terminally ill husband, with in-depth consideration of the interplay between financial remedy claims and potential Inheritance Act proceedings.
• Acted for a homemaker in section 37 MCA 1973 disposition of land proceedings in North Wales concerning land with fracking potential; successfully recovered 100% of the client’s costs.
• Represented a later-life (“silver”) separator who lost litigation capacity five days before the final hearing; obtained a capacity assessment and appointed a litigation friend.
• Acted for an expatriate wife in Dubai in maintenance pending suit proceedings; secured full recovery of the client’s costs.
• Represented a client who divorced 20 years earlier but discovered no enforceable financial order had been made in 1994; issued a notice to show cause application involving farmland with development potential exceeding £8 million.
• Represented a husband seeking to set aside a financial consent order on grounds of undue influence and duress, including allegations of questionable judicial conduct.
• Acted for a wife and carer (“silver separator”) whose terminally ill husband had months to live, advising on financial remedy and potential Inheritance Act claims.
• Advised a wife in high-net-worth divorce proceedings involving multi-million-pound assets, a £1.3 million share sale, significant savings, and high earnings for both parties.

Grainne advises on all aspects of private children law, including child arrangements, prohibited steps and specific issue orders, expert instruction, passport return orders, and domestic and international relocation, including appeals.

• Acted for applicant mothers seeking to relocate permanently abroad with their children, including to New Zealand, Canada, and Greece.
• Represented numerous applicant fathers denied contact or meaningful time with their children following separation, including where there have been false allegations of domestic abuse.
• Acted for a mother in expedited proceedings where she had a six-month life expectancy and was the primary carer for five daughters.
• Represented a paternal grandmother and aunt seeking parental responsibility and a child arrangements order; Cafcass recommended no contact between the mother and child.
• Acted for a father who successfully secured a live-with order and time with the mother at his discretion; the mother had multiple admissions under the Mental Health Act.
• Represented a mother seeking stringent safeguards before consenting to her children travelling to a Middle Eastern country with their father.

• Advised a father in concurrent Non-Molestation Order and Children Act proceedings following unsubstantiated allegations of rape and abuse, focusing on re-establishment of contact.
• Represented a father in a highly sensitive case requiring urgent ex-parte applications and multiple hearings, ultimately securing a “lives with” order after the mother, who suffered severe mental health issues, posed significant risks to the child.
• Advised a father in cross-border proceedings (England v Scotland) involving allegations of abduction and parental alienation, where the mother – a multi-millionaire with assets across several jurisdictions – had relocated the children without agreement.
• Advised a high-net-worth father in complex children matters involving mental health concerns (including threats of suicide and ADHD diagnoses), achieving a 50/50 shared care agreement without the need for court proceedings.
• Acted in school choice and education-related disputes, including securing specific issue orders for elite private schooling and safeguarding specialist provision for children with additional needs.
• Advised in multiple cases involving allegations of parental alienation and the use of covert recordings, navigating the court’s cautious approach to such evidence.
• Advised a Hong Kong-based intervenor in financial remedy proceedings involving beneficial interests in two matrimonial properties; case involved complex ownership disputes and cultural considerations.
• Advised a husband in High Court proceedings concerning a short marriage and multiple disputed properties; successfully protected the East Asian family’s beneficial interests in several assets.

Grainne advises on wealth protection for medium to high-net-worth individuals through pre- and post-nuptial, separation, and cohabitation agreements, helping clients safeguard assets and establish clear financial arrangements. She also regularly advises the economically weaker party on pre-nuptial agreements presented to them, negotiating much more favourable terms to safeguard future capital, housing, and income needs.

• Negotiated to a position of no pre-nuptial agreement for the fiancée of a Premier League football player, who had been presented with unfavourable terms, under intense time pressure in the close lead-up to the wedding.
• Drafted a pre-nuptial agreement for the director of a well-known Chelsea club protecting wealth exceeding £16 million.
• Drafted a post-nuptial agreement for a Spanish national protecting £11 million in assets, where the wife was a Brazilian national.
• Prepared a cohabitation agreement for an elderly widower seeking to protect £4 million in assets before cohabiting with his new partner.
• Drafted a pre-nuptial agreement for a 75-year-old client engaged to a younger Thai national, protecting modest assets to pass to his son from a previous marriage.
• Negotiated a more favourable pre-nuptial agreement for a young fiancée marrying a man of significant trust wealth from two trusts set up in the mid-90s by his father.

Grainne represents clients in property disputes between unmarried couples, including litigation under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TLATA).

• Advised an English actor in a same-sex cohabitation dispute involving over £1 million in disputed property assets. The case centred on claims for a greater share due to substantial financial and personal contributions, unpaid loans, and missed mortgage payments, with potential civil proceedings alongside TLATA claims.
• Acted for a claimant in a complex trust of land dispute involving 27 properties valued at £12 million, achieving settlement.
• Represented a claimant enforcing a 2016 TLATA order relating to 1994 proceedings; secured recovery of 80% of costs.
• Acted for a claimant owning multiple properties with her partner (including assets held in the partner’s sole name and company names), seeking sale, beneficial interests, and company shares.
• Represented a claimant in a same-sex TLATA dispute with 100% costs recovery.
• Drafted numerous cohabitation agreements protecting property held in joint and sole names.

Grainne advises medium- to high-net-worth individuals on divorce, finances, children disputes, wealth protection agreements, and international cases involving overseas assets, trusts, complex remuneration structures, and cross-border issues.

• Represented numerous high-net-worth and high-profile individuals, including heads of international corporations, MBE-awarded British rappers, supermodels, lawyers and investment managers. Specialist expertise advising on divorce and separation with links to the USA, Greece, Iran, Lebanon, and the UAE.
• Advised a lawyer wife in a high-net-worth divorce and finance case involving c. £4m in assets and significant income disparity. The husband (self-represented), earning c. £750,000 p.a. and living in the Middle East, held assets across the UK and Ireland. Achieved settlement at lawyer-led mediation covering maintenance, nanny costs, and school fees.
• Advised a high-net-worth father on complex children’s issues. Despite the mother’s severe mental-health challenges (including suicidal threats, BPD, depression, and ADHD), secured a 50/50 child arrangements agreement without court proceedings.
• Advised a high-net-worth Egyptian national husband in a divorce featuring complex assets and significant wealth, including prospective millions from carried interest; matter complicated by Islamic divorce procedures and international dimensions.
• Advised an ultra-high-net-worth wife in financial remedy and non-molestation proceedings concerning nearly £40m in assets, vested/unvested shares, complex international tax issues, and joint investments.

Recognised in The Legal 500 for Family: Children 2026

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Family 2020–2026

Shortlisted for Partner of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards 2021

Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL)

Accredited by Resolution as a specialist family lawyer with particular specialisms in Private Law Children and Advanced Financial Provision 1

Resolution qualified mediator

Member of the Cooperation Ireland Committee (CIC) and Vice Chair of the Legal Dinner

Member of the London Irish Lawyers Association (LILA)