The Split became one of the BBC’s most successful legal dramas, drawing in millions of viewers with its glossy London setting and the lives of the Defoe family lawyers. With their glamorous wardrobes and sky high offices, the series made family law look like a world of constant glamour and confrontation. It is, without question, brilliant television. The sharp dialogue, tense negotiations, and complicated personal entanglements, Hannah Stern leaving Noble & Hale to join rival firm Noble Hale Defoe, or the courtroom battles with estranged husbands and secret children, make for gripping drama.
The family law landscape in England and Wales is far more measured, often slower, and in many ways more humane. As practising family lawyers, we see every day how television dramas shape expectations. Clients come through the door anticipating instant results, showdowns, and ruthless tactics. What they encounter instead is a system designed not to inflame conflict, but to promote fairness, protect children, and help families move forward.
The Real Life Solicitor
In The Split, the Defoes glide between their Georgian family home and city offices, pausing only for tense lunches in private members’ clubs. Hannah juggles billion pound settlements before racing to family dinners that descend into revelations and recriminations.
Real family lawyers’ lives are far less cinematic. We spend much of our time drafting consent orders, pouring over disclosure documents, negotiating settlements and helping clients through emotionally charged decisions. Our role is not to stoke drama but to reduce it. Far from the show’s breathless pace, most of our work is done quietly, in conference rooms, over correspondence, or in mediation sessions.
Even at the top end of the market, where cases may involve trusts, complex company structures, or assets overseas, the emphasis is pragmatic. The glamour is stripped away, what remains is the careful work of guiding clients toward settlement with discretion and sensitivity.
Courtroom Drama vs. Reality
Perhaps the biggest gap between the series and real practice lies in its courtroom scenes. In The Split, trials are sudden, dramatic, and peppered with shocking revelations, a hidden bank account, a surprise witness, a devastating cross examination.
The truth is rather different. Very few family cases ever reach a contested hearing. The Family Procedure Rules 2010 require people to consider non court dispute resolution before issuing proceedings. Judges expect people to explore mediation, collaborative law or arbitration.
When cases do proceed to court, they unfold in a structured and methodical way. Hearings are not opportunities for grandstanding, they are designed to weigh evidence, apply the law and, where children are concerned, uphold the paramount principle of welfare. The sharp exchanges and last minute surprises that drive The Split’s plotlines would simply never occur in a real family court.
Timeline and Process
Another misconception the series reinforces is speed. Within a few episodes, Hannah Stern is shown settling disputes, negotiating financial orders, and resolving children’s arrangements.
Since the introduction of no fault divorce in April 2022 under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, there is a minimum 20 week reflection period between the application and the conditional order, followed by a further six week interval before the final order (divorce) can be granted. Financial proceedings can take many more months, or even years, particularly if assets are complex or disclosure is resisted. The law recognises that rushed decisions rarely serve families well, a far cry from the compressed timelines depicted on screen.
Finances
The Defoes’ caseload often involves billionaire clients and the show’s negotiations unfold in boardrooms, with entire fortunes in play. In reality, the court’s task is to apply section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, weighing the parties’ needs, resources, and contributions, with the welfare of children at the forefront.
The landmark case White v White [2001] 1 AC 596 established equality as the 'yardstick of fairness,' rejecting any bias between breadwinner and homemaker. Miller v Miller, McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] UKHL 24 developed the principles of needs, compensation and sharing, which continue to guide judges today.
Unlike the show’s win lose portrayals, the aim is not to punish or reward, but to achieve a fair outcome that enables both parties, and their children, to move forward securely.
Children
Perhaps the most striking divergence from reality is in cases involving children. In The Split, custody is often treated like a prize to be fought for, with judges portrayed as referees in parental battles.
In practice, the law avoids the term 'custody' altogether. The Children Act 1989 governs child arrangements, with section 1 making the child’s welfare the paramount consideration. Judges apply the welfare checklist, considering factors such as the child’s wishes and feelings, physical and emotional needs, and the effect of changes to their circumstances. The modern approach presumes that, where safe, children benefit from a meaningful relationship with both parents. Cooperative parenting and shared arrangements are encouraged. Litigation is not designed to reward one parent over the other, but to support children’s best interests.
That said, I must give credit where credit’s due and in the third season of The Split, Hannah and Nathan form a 'nesting' arrangement, which is where the children remain in the family home and the parents take turns living there on a rotating basis. This approach is intended to provide stability for children by keeping them in their familiar environment and routine. However, the arrangement in the show proves difficult due to Nathan’s new relationship and highlights the importance of good communication between parents who are nesting. This is something that we are increasingly helping parents to navigate.
The Emotion
Here, The Split is truer to life. Nicola Walker’s portrayal of Hannah Stern shows the emotional toll of divorce work: balancing clients’ crises with her own family’s unravelling. The strain on her marriage, her guilt over leaving Noble & Hale, and the raw moments of vulnerability reflect the human side of family law.
Divorce is, in reality, profoundly emotional. Clients often arrive in crisis, angry, grieving, fearful for the future. These emotions are an inevitable part of the legal process and need to be approached with deep empathy. The role of a good lawyer is not to inflame those feelings, it is to contain them, to redirect focus towards constructive solutions, and to help clients see beyond the present conflict with appropriate therapeutic support where required.
Why Accuracy Matters
It might be tempting to dismiss The Split as harmless entertainment. But television shapes public understanding. Persistent myths, the idea of 'common law marriage,' assumptions about automatic entitlements, or expectations of swift courtroom showdowns, are reinforced when legal dramas prioritise spectacle over accuracy. When clients expect a Defoe style battle and instead encounter a system that is slower, more procedural, and more settlement driven, the contrast can cause frustration. Our task, as practitioners, is to reset those expectations and demonstrate the advantages of resolution over conflict.
Conclusion: Beyond the Drama
The Split is gripping television. It offers a stylised vision of family law: glamorous lawyers, instant resolutions, high stakes trials. The reality in England and Wales is far less cinematic. It is slower, more principled, and fundamentally designed to achieve fairness and protect children.
For those navigating divorce, this is reassuring. The process may not be glamorous, but it is structured, humane, and capable of delivering outcomes that enable families to move forward. So, enjoy Hannah Stern, the Defoe sisters, and their fictional clients for what they are: characters in a drama. But when it comes to your own life, seek guidance not from television, but from those of us who live this work every day.
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