Carolyn deals with all aspects of family law with a particular emphasis on the resolution of high-value, complex financial disputes arising from divorce and relationship breakdown as well as arrangements for children. She has a wealth of expertise in dealing with clients from the entertainment industry who have a public profile to protect. An accomplished negotiator, Carolyn fights her client’s corner and achieves results with and without the court’s intervention. Carolyn is also experienced in drafting pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements and resolving issues between unmarried couples with the utmost of discretion.
Carolyn is dual-qualified with experience practising in England and Wales as well as Australia and as a member of Resolution she is committed to dealing with family matters in a non-confrontational manner where possible.
Expertise
- Pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements
- Divorce and separation including those with an international element
- Financial settlements following relationship breakdown
- Arrangements for children including where the child will live and when they will spend time with each parent (formerly residence and contact)
- Leave to remove children from the jurisdiction, both achieving and preventing
- Financial claims on behalf of children of unmarried parents
- Non-molestation and occupation orders for vulnerable clients
- Freezing orders to preserve family assets
- Variation and enforcement of existing orders, both financial and children related
- Arbitration
Experience
- Drafted a pre-nuptial agreement for a high-profile English rock star and resolving his subsequent divorce and financial settlement in accordance with the terms of the agreement without the court’s intervention, thereby maintaining his privacy throughout.
- Issued an urgent court application to successfully reinstate a father’s contact with his three children that had been unilaterally stopped by the mother without justification.
- Obtained a significant financial settlement for a wife whose husband alleged that the marriage was short and was never consummated.
- Issued enforcement proceedings in the High Court when the wife failed to comply with the order made on divorce and successfully obtained an order for her to pay the husband’s legal costs.
- Successfully negotiated, through solicitors, a financial settlement for a celebrity TV couple, thereby keeping the details of their divorce out of the press.
- Acted for a mother in child abduction proceedings under The Hague Convention and secured the return of the child to the jurisdiction of South Africa.
- Successfully obtained an occupation order over a property on behalf of a wife and child together with a non-molestation order to protect them from the husband’s harassment.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised as a ‘Top Lawyer 2024’ by Spear’s for Family
Recognised by The Legal 500 (2021-2025) for Family
“Carolyn Bottomley has such a depth and breadth of knowledge on the family law areas of my case and has navigated the whole process to achieve the best outcome for me.” The Legal 500 2025
Recognised in the Spear’s 2021 Family Law Index as a Recommended Lawyer
Recognised in Spear’s 500 2020, 2021 and 2022 as a Recommended Family Lawyer
Member of Resolution
Member of the Anglo-Australian Family Lawyers Association
Volunteered as an honorary legal advisor at the Royal Courts of Justice advice bureau 2007–2008
Career
Carolyn qualified as a solicitor in 2007. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2017, she worked at the following firms:
- Lee & Thompson
- Manches