Ellie Foster is a partner in our family law department who has specialised in this area since qualifying in 2003. She helps people address and resolve the issues they face when a relationship breaks down, which usually means helping them reach a financial settlement on divorce and agree arrangements for any children. Her cases routinely involve substantial assets and complex issues relating to businesses, trusts, pensions and international aspects.
Ellie also works with clients at the start of their relationship journey to prepare cohabitation agreements and pre-marital agreements. These enable them to set out their intentions about their future financial relationship to try to minimise the possibility of a future dispute if the relationship breaks down.
She is committed to minimising disputes between separating couples wherever possible. As a Resolution-trained collaborative family lawyer she is keen to champion this constructive and solution focussed dispute resolution process for clients.
Ellie is particularly interested in the treatment of pensions on divorce, the value of which can often be overlooked in reaching a settlement, leading to unfair outcomes. She has experience in dealing with a wide variety of pension schemes on divorce, including both private and public sector schemes as well as SIPPs and SSASs. She has a niche specialism in helping clients obtain pension sharing orders in England after an overseas divorce where the English pension scheme will not recognise a foreign order or agreement.
Ellie said, "It sounds a cliché, but every person’s situation is different, as is what they want to achieve, so no two cases are ever the same. I work with people who are in difficult and often very stressful situations, so my aim is to make any process manageable so that a solution can be reached in the most pragmatic and cost-effective way possible. I find it incredibly satisfying to help a client achieve their goals and agree a financial settlement so that they can then look to the future positively."
As a Resolution member, Ellie was a member of the West & North Yorkshire regional committee for 10 years and served as regional treasurer and regional secretary.
She has been consistently recognised by both the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners UK legal directories.
Chambers 2024:
"Ellie Foster is an outstanding individual to have in your corner."
"Ellie has excellent judgement and strong people skills."
"She is superb technically - a strong and safe pair of hands when clients need her."