Bartholomew Preston

Bartholomew is a solicitor in the Family team at Wedlake Bell, with a particular focus on complex children and financial matters. He advises clients on all aspects of family breakdown, including child arrangements, relocation and allegations of harm, as well as high net worth financial cases involving pensions, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, trusts and cross-border assets. He regularly works with families where there are overlapping public and private law issues or international considerations.

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Bartholomew worked in child protection as both a researcher and a registered social worker. He was the lead professional in cases involving significant harm and has extensive experience across the Family Courts and Court of Appeal. His training in systemic practice shapes his sensitive, strategic and child-centred approach to family justice.

Between 2008 and 2015, Bartholomew lived as a Benedictine monk, partly based in Rome. Alongside completing his theological training, he was involved in improving safeguarding and employment practices and became familiar with the governance of charitable trusts. His background and experience informs his calm, reflective style and deep interest in law, ethics and justice.

Bartholomew is a trustee of a longstanding charity supporting Scots in London. He has a special interest in modern family structures and the evolving ways in which the law responds to them.

• Acting for the father in contested child arrangements proceedings involving allegations of coercive control, parental alienation and non-molestation proceedings.
• Assisting in a high net worth financial remedy case involving substantial non-marital wealth held in US-based trusts and pensions.
• Representing a parent in an application to vary a financial order to secure provision for an adult child with disabilities, involving complex issues of dependency and jurisdiction.
• Representing a young client in a short marriage following a long period of cohabitation, involving the protection of a significant multi-generational trust structure.
• Attending private and court-led Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) hearings in cases involving business valuations, pensions and enforcement concerns.
• Successfully representing the father in Hague Convention child abduction proceedings, securing the residency of the child in England.

• Family Safeguarding Hertfordshire: Evaluation Report, Department for Education (July 2017) (accessible here)
• Special Guardianship Orders: Securing Stability for Children Amid Economic Challenges (accessible here)

Bartholomew is registered with Social Work England as a non-practising children and families social worker, and his background in frontline child protection continues to inform his legal practice.

Bartholomew has working proficiency in Italian and has studied Japanese. His international academic background, including time spent living in Rome, enhances his understanding of cross-border family issues.