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Rebecca Heyworth

Senior Counsel

Rebecca landscape

Rebecca represents a diverse range of clients, from hedge fund managers to homemakers. With a background in finance, she frequently handles cases involving complex asset bases and remuneration structures. She is highly experienced in handling cases with an international element, as well as domestic UK cases.

Rebecca has extensive experience in advising on all areas of family law, with particular expertise in children matters. Rebecca puts the children of the family first while protecting her client’s interests.

Rebecca is known for her pragmatic advice and for getting to the heart of a matter quickly. Her efficiency and sensitivity help clients resolve matters as soon as possible.

Rebecca recognises that the breakdown of a relationship can be a difficult time for all involved and actively seeks to resolve matters in a constructive manner.

Should court intervention prove necessary, Rebecca also has significant experience of litigation at the highest level. She has been involved in numerous high-profile divorce and children cases in the Central Family Court and the High Court.

Rebecca is committed to her clients and achieving the best possible results for them. She has excellent professional judgment, is a trusted adviser to her clients and is unfailingly calm and efficient. Contributors to the legal directories have noted that Rebecca is “excellent”, “fantastic and hardworking”, “responsible, clearly very capable and importantly also kind and understanding”.

Rebecca’s practice encompasses:

  • Complex divorce and financial cases
  • Jurisdiction disputes
  • Enforcement
  • Child arrangements following relationship breakdown
  • International and domestic relocation with children
  • Surrogacy arrangements and fertility law issues
  • Advising grandparents and other family members about child arrangements
  • Schooling disputes
  • Pre-Nuptial Agreements, Post-Nuptial Agreements and other wealth protection planning
  • Cohabitation Agreements and disputes on unmarried relationship breakdown
  • Non-court dispute resolution

Work highlights
  • Acting for a billionaire parent in highly contested children proceedings and achieving a “winning” result for her client.
  • Successfully enforcing a multi-million pound financial award in the High Court involving multiple jurisdictions against a non-paying husband who attempted to hide his assets.
  • Acting for a father in highly contested proceedings at the High Court involving a baby born in a surrogacy arrangement in America.
  • Advising a mother on a successful leave to remove application to return to Switzerland with the children of the family.
  • Successfully settling a highly contested financial case involving multiple jurisdictions and a complex asset base.
  • Reaching an advantageous agreement for a client in a matter involving the contested valuation of a family business.

Testimonials

“Rebecca Heyworth was excellent. Responsive, clearly very capable and importantly also kind and understanding of the situation in my divorce that mattered to me.” (Legal 500)

“The firm have fantastic and hardworking associates such as Rebecca Heyworth….who provide excellent strength-in-depth and allow the future to look very bright when it comes to future promotions and succession planning.” (Legal 500)

“Rebecca was encyclopaedic in her grasp of the detail. It saved me much time and effort, the client a great deal of money” (Senior Family Silk)

“She also showed a natural warmth and empathy with our bullied, rather vulnerable and much beleaguered client that was appropriate, sympathetic and very reassuring, without at any stage risking a loss of objectivity.” (Senior Family Silk)

“Rebecca was highly competent and made the process as swift and efficient as possible. I could not recommend her highly enough.” (High Net Worth client)

“The quality of Rebecca's work and level-headedness she brings to a hearing are a credit to Farrer & Co.” (Senior Counsel)

“Rebecca has been punching above her weight for a long time now.” (Senior Family Silk)

“There are times in life when one can feel properly adrift at sea, unsure if safe harbour will ever come. Thank you for being my compass. You’ve made a huge difference” (Client in complex international case)

“Thanks for all your help which kept me going through such a difficult time. Throughout this campaign, I have been extremely impressed by your high level of professionalism and your toleration of my (sometimes) impatience.” (Father in contested children proceedings)

“I can’t thank you enough. Words I can think of are not strong enough to express my gratitude.” (Mother in successful relocation case)

Memberships & Accolades

Rebecca has been recognised in eprivateclient's Top 35 Under 35 rankings ("the definitive and original list of rising stars in the private client sector").

Rebecca has also been shortlisted for the Lawyer Monthly Women in Law Awards and nominated for Freshminds "Ones to Watch". 

Rebecca is a member of Resolution and the Association of Lawyers for Children. She is a past Treasurer of YRes London.

Reported cases

A v B & Ors [2023] EWHC 1680 (Fam) (04 July 2023)

Acting for the father of a baby born as a result of a surrogacy arrangement in America. The father was the respondent in the proceedings in relation to the baby, further to applications brought by the mother of the father’s older child. Mrs Justice Theis determined that the applicant’s application for a parental order lacked merit and that she could not “read down” the statutory criteria in s54 HFEA 2008 in order to open the gateway to a parental order for the applicant; furthermore, the ECHR rights were not engaged in accordance with the authorities. The applicant’s application for permission to make an application for a child arrangements order pursuant to s10(9) Children Act 1989 was also refused. The father’s own application for a parental order in relation to the baby, made as a single parent, accorded with the provisions of s54 HFEA 2008.

Mackay v Mackay [2015] EWHC 2860 (Fam)

Acting for the husband in a financial remedies case where a judge recused himself from hearing the wife’s application to set aside a consent order on the basis of material non-disclosure.

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