Professional Practice

Mark Ablett has a specialist practice in family law, appearing at all levels of the Family Court and High Court having completed pupillage in October 2017. His background as the senior paralegal at a leading family law solicitors firm lends an experience of working on big money divorce cases.

He is frequently instructed on family finance cases with a complex element, often involving asset-protection structures, as well as private law children cases. He handles Family Law Act injunctions and has a growing practice in TOLATA claims. He sits on the Resolution financial remedy, pension and tax committee.

In all practice areas, Mark is sensitive to the benefits of settlement where achievable but does not hesitate in taking a robust approach where necessary. Profiling his expertise, Mark regularly provides talks and case updates to leading law firms as well as writing articles  for key publications (both online and in print), and has been published in the Guardian. Mark’s first book was published in June 2024 along with a chapter in the Resolution Spousal Maintenance Handbook. Mark was also proud to achieve recognition when awarded the IBA Family Law Committee scholarship in 2017, enabling him to attend and speak at the IBA annual conference in Sydney (2017).

He is a founding donor and assisting barrister for the legal charity Not Beyond Redemption, assisting mothers in prison or recently released from prison with re-establishing and regenerating the fundamental relationship between mother and child.

Mark accepts instructions to act as a evaluator in Private FDR’s.

Mark’s practice encompasses all aspects of the financial consequences of relationship breakdown, having been instructed both in applications under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and Schedule 1 Children Act 1989. Alongside his practice as a barrister, Mark also offers services as a private FDR evaluator.

Mark came to the Bar with a background in family finance, having worked for two years pre-pupillage as a paralegal on big money divorces, handling one case involving assets worth several billion dollars held in a Cayman Islands trust. Mark applies this experience in cases where he is instructed to deal with on and off-shore trusts and complex company structures. Mark is experienced dealing with cases involving third party interests and has acted in numerous cases with intervenors and joined third parties.

In summer 2019, Mark assisted in-house at a boutique family firm, specialising in high and ultra-high net worth cases as well as complex children proceedings. Mark is well-versed in arguments over non-matrimonial property, pre-nuptial agreements and complex pension arrangements.

Mark is frequently instructed to advise pre-proceedings. He has experience advising on proposed terms of pre-nuptial agreements, the enforceability of proposed foreign settlements and recognition of foreign divorces.

Mark is familiar with international aspects to financial disputes, such as disputed contested divorce jurisdiction and divorce validity. Conflict of laws is a particular interest; Mark gave a talk on the issue at the 2017 IBA annual conference in Sydney. Mark also has experience of Part III MFPA proceedings, both at permission stage and substantively.

Mark is known for his attention to detail, meticulous case preparation and knowledge of the law, and has received particular praise for his written documents and manner with clients. He regularly gives seminars and is frequently asked to write articles for such journals as the Family Law journal, Private Client Business and the Financial Remedies Journal. He has recently published a book on Barder events and wrote the chapter on child maintenance in the recent Resolution guide to maintenance claims.

Mark also sits on the Resolution Financial Remedy, Pensions and Tax Committee.

• Recommendations

  "Mark is calm and sensible in the all-to-often hostile environment of family law. As an advocate, he is easy on the ear and persuasive. He has the stamina and ability to fight when necessary."

  Legal 500 2025

• Publications and Lecturing

  • “Non-Matrimonial Property and the Family Home”, Private Client Business [2024], issue 5. Co-author.
  • • “Child Maintenance”, The Resolution Spousal Maintenance Handbook (2024)
  • A practical guide to Barder events in financial remedy proceedings in family law (2024, Law Brief Publishing)
  • “Child Maintenance in Cases of Equal Shared Care”, Financial Remedies Journal (Winter 2023). Co-author.
  • “Step-children and half-siblings in family proceedings” Family Law Journal [2021] Fam Law 976. Co-author with Samara Brackley.
  • “Without Notice applications in Children Act and Family Law Act: tips, pointers and warnings” Family Law Journal [2021] Fam Law 553. Co-author with Samara Brackley.
  • Brexit and Family Law, The Review, Issue 199
  • “Costs in fact-finding proceedings against the legally aided litigant” – [2019] Fam Law 407. Co-author
  • “The without prejudice rule in children proceedings: myth or reality?” Family Law Journal, [2018] Fam Law 208
  • “Costs: Reassessing the Starting Point”, Family Law Week, 27 January 2017
  • “Why it pays for the wealthy to divorce in Singapore (and not Hong Kong)”, Trusts & Trustees, Vol. 22, No. 5, June 2016, pp. 525–530 (co-author)
  • “Ordering the would-be undertaker: the equitable reach of the Family Court”, Family Law Week, 8 July 2016 (co-author)

• Personal Information

  Mark is a food fanatic and when not in court can be found in his garden smoking sides of salmon and roasting coffee beans (although not simultaneously), to the mild irritation of his long-suffering neighbours. Mark is also an avid follower of the travails of Liverpool FC and devotes his time to ensuring his young daughter shares his loyalties.