In short
Family law marketing has one hard limit: Google treats divorce as a sensitive category, so client lists, remarketing and lookalike audiences can't be used.[3] That leaves search terms, location and the landing page to do the work. Naelar builds the search ads, a safe-contact enquiry form and the follow-up for UK family firms.
Nothing goes live until your firm signs it off, and every enquiry stays exclusive to your firm.
What does family law marketing need?
A safe way in, a fast human reply and fees that make sense. The ads matter less than what happens after the click.
A family enquiry isn't like a conveyancing quote. The person may share a phone, a laptop or an email account with the other party. They may be asking about children, money and the home in one call.
So a form and follow-up copied from another practice area can go wrong in ways that matter:
- An automatic text that says "Thanks for your divorce enquiry" lands on a shared screen.
- A voicemail names the firm.
- A reminder email goes to an old joint account.
Naelar's part is the ads, the practice-area pages, the enquiry form, the CRM and the follow-up. We build them so the person's own choices about contact are respected at every step.
Ads are one source of family enquiries. Referrals, your Google Business Profile and the pages that rank for local searches bring others. Log where each enquiry came from in the CRM, so you can see which source produces instructions. The general approach to search is in SEO for solicitors.
What changes for divorce ads on Google?
Google's sensitive-category rule takes away the audience tricks. Search ads and location targeting carry the weight instead.
Google's ad policy says relationship hardships is a sensitive interest category, and it gives "Divorce services" as an example.[3] For those ads it says you can use Google's predefined audiences but not advertiser-curated ones.[3] The table sets out the split as the page lists it.
| Audience type | For divorce ads | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Match | Can't be used | No uploading past client lists to find them again |
| Your data segments | Can't be used | No lists built from people who visited your site |
| Lookalike segments and audience expansion | Can't be used | No asking Google for people similar to your clients |
| In-market, affinity and life events | Can be used | Google's own groups, with sensitive signals taken out |
| Location targeting | Can be used | Show ads where your clients live and work |
| Custom segments | Limited | Extra limits apply when the ad or page is sensitive |
Here's our reading of it, not Google's words. The remarketing and client-list methods that help other practice areas aren't open to divorce work. You can't follow a visitor around the web afterwards.
That puts more weight on the search terms you bid on, the areas you cover, and the page people land on. The landing page and the call back have to do the work in one go.
Google's rule sits on top of the SRA's, not in place of it. Ask your compliance officer to check ad wording and targeting before a campaign runs. Our PPC management for solicitors service covers how we set up and track the ads.
How should a sensitive enquiry be handled?
Assume the caller may not be safe to talk. Ask on the form how it's safe to reply, then call back on the number and at the time the person chose. Keep case detail out of texts, emails and voicemails, and run the conflict check before they tell their story.
- Enquiry arrivesThe form asks how it's safe to reply
- Urgent or safety concernGoes to a named person first. Called on the safe number only.Fee question or new matterCallback at the time they chose. Fee stages sent by their route.
- Conflict check before any detailNames of the parties first, the story after
- First meeting bookedMIAM explained, source logged in the CRM. No case detail by text, email or voicemail.
The safe-contact field
Put it near the top of the form, not in an optional section at the end. Ask:
Ask on the form
- How should we reply: call, text or email?
- When is it safe to call?
- Can we leave a voicemail?
- If someone else answers, can we say who we are?
- Is there a number or address we should never use?
Never send by text, email or voicemail
- Anything the person told you about their situation
- Children's names or schools
- Addresses, especially a new one
- Links to documents or the client file
- The words divorce, separation or family law in a subject line or preview
Then make the CRM obey the answers. They belong on the contact record, and they should stop any automatic text or email that would break them.
Your supervising solicitor writes the final version.
Who calls back, and when
Name the person who makes the first call: a solicitor, a paralegal or a trained intake person. Pick a callback promise your team can keep every working day and print it on the form. Then set it in the CRM as a task with an owner.
We won't quote a response-time benchmark here. The UK figures we found are old or general, and the recent ones are US data.
Urgent and safety enquiries
Give them their own route on the form, apart from fee questions. Send them to a named person first. The form should also point anyone in immediate danger to the emergency services.
Explaining the MIAM
A MIAM is a family mediation information and assessment meeting. Section 10(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014 says a person must attend one before making a relevant family application.[4] The same section lets court rules set out when that doesn't apply.[4] A plain paragraph on your site means the first call doesn't start with a definition.
Naelar's part
We build the form, the routing and the follow-up. The CRM can be Clio Grow, Lawmatics, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Salesforce, or the one you already pay for. The CRM side is our intake and CRM service, and the routing is AI and automation.
Ad accounts, CRM and pages are set up in your firm's name, and your firm owns them. Your firm reads every message before it's switched on.
How do you show fixed-fee stages?
Split the work into stages a client recognises, and say what each one includes and what costs extra. You don't need a full price list. Your firm puts its own figures against each stage.
| Stage | Say what's included | Say what's extra |
|---|---|---|
| Divorce application | Who prepares and files it, and which later steps the fee covers | The court fee, and any work if the other side responds late or not at all |
| Financial arrangements | Whether the fee covers negotiation, drafting an agreed order, or both | Valuations, other professionals' reports and any barrister |
| Arrangements for children | Meetings and letters up to an agreed point | Mediation fees, court fees and any hearing |
| If it becomes contested | Where the fixed fee stops | How charging works from that point |
Under the table, add three short lines. Who does the work and who supervises it. When the quote gets reviewed. What happens if the other side won't agree.
Those are the questions people ask on the first call anyway. Answering them on the page saves your team that time.
Code paragraph 8.7 is the reason to take care here: it asks for pricing information at the start and as the matter goes on.[2] The price checklist has more on wording. We don't write your prices.
Which rules apply, and where are they explained?
Family law isn't on the SRA's list of services that need published prices, but the Code of Conduct still covers how you price and advertise.
Three of the Transparency Rules matter here, and the last two reach every firm's website:
- Rule 1 lists the services that need published price information, and family law isn't on it.[1]
- Rule 2 asks for your complaints procedure, including how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA.[1]
- Rule 4 asks for your SRA number and the SRA's digital badge in a prominent place.[1]
The SRA Transparency Rules don't cover family law, but Code of Conduct paragraphs 8.7 and 8.8 still apply.[2] Clients get clear information on how their matter will be priced, and publicity about charges must be accurate and not misleading.[2] Both versions quoted here have been in effect since 11 April 2025.
Read the rules on sra.org.uk. We build both into the site as part of our law firm website design work. The detail is in the family section of our SRA price page checklist. We're not a law firm: ask your compliance officer (COLP) to check any price or regulatory wording before it goes live.
How can a family firm ask for reviews without pressure?
Ask once, after the matter closes, about the service rather than the result. Offer nothing in return, and never write, edit or stage a review.
Timing matters more here than in other areas. Two habits help:
- Ask after the last step, by the contact route the client chose at the start. Don't ask mid-matter, when the other party might still see their messages.
- Leave the type of matter out of the request. "Your divorce" in a text preview is the kind of detail the safe-contact field exists to prevent.
Some clients will say no, and that's fine. A divorce isn't something everyone wants to review in public.
Sample request, for your firm to adapt
Hello [first name]. Now that everything is finished, would you be willing to say how we looked after you? A line about the service is plenty, with nothing personal. If you'd rather not, that's fine, and we won't ask again.
Offer a private route too: a short feedback form that goes to the supervising partner. Some people will say more there than in public.
The SRA's warning notice on marketing to the public lists feedback from other claimants among the things publicity mustn't misstate.[5] It was written with high-volume claims work in mind, not family law. The point carries over: show real reviews, unedited, and never stage one.
Reviews also feed your Google Business Profile. The wider review rules and a general request email sit under local SEO and AI search.
How does your family enquiry path score? A 12-check audit
Run these twelve yes or no checks on your own site and phone line. Each one takes a few minutes and needs no tools.
Twelve checks: tick each one you can answer yes to
- Safe-contact field. The form asks how and when it's safe to reply, and the answer sits on the CRM record.
- SRA number and badge. Both are on the site, where a visitor would look for them (Rule 4).[1]
- Complaints procedure. It's linked from the site and explains the Legal Ombudsman route (Rule 2).[1]
- Fee stages. A price page breaks family work into stages, with what's included and what's extra.
- Named first call. The page says who calls back: a person, not "the team".
- Callback time. The form states one. Test it: send an enquiry yourself and time the reply.
- MIAM explained. A plain paragraph says what it is and when it comes up.
- Urgent route. Safety or urgent enquiries have their own path, apart from fee questions.
- No detail in writing. There's a written policy on what never goes by text, email or voicemail.
- Conflict check first. Intake checks the parties before the person tells the story.
- Review step. There's a set moment and wording for asking, after the matter closes.
- Source recorded. Each enquiry in the CRM shows the ad, page or referrer that brought it.
Our own rule of thumb, not a statistic: fewer than ten yeses usually means enquiries leak somewhere between the form and the first meeting. Fix the safety checks first (safe-contact field, urgent route and no detail in writing). A mistake there can hurt a person, not just a conversion rate.
If you'd like a second pair of eyes on the result, that's what the intro call is for.
Where Naelar stops on family work
The SRA's warning notice says firms shouldn't approach members of the public "in person, by phone, online or by other means which target them individually".[5] Our work only answers people who contact your firm first.
What we build
- Google Ads search campaigns set up within Google's sensitive-category limits. Which searches to keep out is covered in PPC for law firms.
- Family landing pages with fee stages your firm fills in
- An enquiry form with a safe-contact field and an urgent route
- CRM setup and routing, or a fix for the CRM you have
- Follow-up automation on n8n or in your own tools
- A review request step and Google Business Profile upkeep
What we won't do
- Contact anyone who hasn't contacted your firm first
- Buy, sell or share family leads
- Write reviews, client quotes or success-rate claims
- Set your fees or give legal advice
- Publish or send anything your firm hasn't signed off
The same notice also covers clients a third party refers to you, such as a lead generator.[5] So if you buy family leads elsewhere, ask each new client how they were first contacted.
Who this is for, and who it isn't
SRA-regulated firms doing private family work that already get enquiries and want each one handled safely.
This suits a firm with family work every week. The firm also needs a team that can call back the same way each time, on the route the person chose. If nobody owns the first call yet, start there before any ads run.
It isn't for a firm that wants to buy family leads or have reviews written for it. It also isn't written for firms in Scotland or Northern Ireland, where the SRA rules on this page don't apply.
The first conversation is free, and we reply within one working day. You can also write to us through the contact page.
How we work
Who sets up your enquiry path
Rishabh Goria, who founded Naelar, spent four years running intake, marketing and systems inside law firms. The safe-contact field and the callback rules on this page come from that practice, not from a template.
You deal with him from the first call. He'll tell you plainly when something isn't worth your money, our own services included. More about Rishabh
Questions family firms ask
Do we have to publish divorce prices on our website?
Rule 1 of the SRA's price rules doesn't list family law, so it doesn't make you publish them.[1] Code paragraphs 8.7 and 8.8 still apply to how you explain and advertise your fees.[2] The price checklist covers the detail.
Can we use client lists or lookalike audiences for divorce ads on Google?
No. Google's policy lists divorce services as an example of a sensitive interest category. Customer Match and lookalike segments are among the audiences it says can't be used there.[3] Search ads and location targeting still work.
Can we buy family leads?
Naelar doesn't buy, sell or share leads, and every enquiry we bring in stays with your firm. If you buy leads elsewhere, the SRA's warning notice says its ban on approaching people individually also covers clients a lead generator refers to you.[5] Ask each new client how they were first contacted.
Should our website explain the MIAM?
Yes, in plain words. Section 10 of the Children and Families Act 2014 says a person must attend a MIAM before making a relevant family application.[4] The same section lets court rules set out when that doesn't apply, so your solicitors should write that part.
How many Google reviews does a family firm need?
We haven't found a verified number, so we won't give one. A steady run of genuine reviews, asked for the same way after each matter closes, matters more than a target.
Family work is one of five practice areas we cover. See marketing for solicitors by practice area.
Running a family practice in the US? Read the US version of this page.
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "SRA Transparency Rules", made 16 December 2024, in effect from 11 April 2025, sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/transparency-rules/. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs and RSLs", paragraphs 8.7 and 8.8, version in effect from 11 April 2025, sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/code-conduct-solicitors/. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Google, "Relationship hardships in personalized advertising", Advertising Policies Help, undated, support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/16700849. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 10, legislation.gov.uk, legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/6/section/10. Checked 9 October 2026.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "Marketing your services to members of the public", warning notice, published 19 December 2024, sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/marketing-public/. Checked 9 October 2026.
Read next
Other firms we work with: Conveyancing, Wills and probate and Personal injury and claims firms.