PB/MD
November 2025
Dear Client
Re: Peter Dornan & Co Solicitors
We are contacting you personally to provide some news regarding the future of this practice.
With a view to developing and modernising the practice myself and my partner, Mr Dermot Bowes, have agreed a merger of our practice with Stewarts Solicitors who have offices in Newtownards, Belfast, Ballymena, and Comber. This merger will be completed on 1 November 2025 and provides us with an opportunity to update the range of legal services we already provide and secure a safe space for important legal documents that we hold on behalf of so many clients such as Wills, Deeds and Enduring Power of Attorney documents
The merger provides our practice with additional professional support. My partner and I will be engaged on a full-time basis as consultants. We will no longer be trading as Peter Dornan & Co and will be trading exclusively under the name of Stewarts.
We will continue to work out of our Bangor offices at 14 Hamilton Road, Bangor for the foreseeable future. The telephone contact for our Bangor office will remain as 02891 273054. We will continue to use the email address bangor@peterdornansolicitors.com for a short period of time. A new email address for the office in Bangor will be provided to all clients shortly after the formal merger.
We will continue to trade out of the Belfast office at Imperial Buildings, 72 HighStreet, Belfast until the first week of January 2026. Thereafter we will be working out of the Bangor offices at 14 Hamilton Road, Bangor with the intention of seeing any Belfast clients at Stewarts’ offices in Belfast, Scottish Provident Building, Donegall Square West. All appointments for our Belfast clients can be arranged by telephoning the Bangor office in advance. Contact with the Belfast office at 72 High Street will continue to be via the existing number 02890 234559. Again, as with the Bangor office, the email address for the Belfast office is law@peterdornansolicitors.com and this will remain for a short period of time before being replaced with a new email address.
We look forward to continuing to provide a wide range of legal services to our clients as we have done so over the last four decades.
Manythanks.
Yoursfaithfully
PatrickBarr
PeterDornan & Co
We have provided a well organised and professional service in this area since 1986. This involves corresponding with all interested parties including the Insurance Company of the paddddd rty responsible for the collision.
We can arrange for all of the following:
Recovery of vehicle / vans
Repairs to the vehicle.
Replacement car hire.
Medical legal examination for the purpose of any personal injury claim.
If your injury involves a period off work and as a consequence a wage loss we will pursue this on your behalf. We can also arrange for physiotherapy treatments the cost of which will be covered by the party responsible for the collision. If negotiations with the Insurance Companies are non-productive we will take formal legal proceedings without delay to bring matters to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.
All Legal Costs Will Be Paid By The Party Responsible For The Collision
In cases where the accident is not your fault there is absolutely no need for you to instruct a firm of Solicitors nominated by your own Insurance Company. You have the right to nominate your own Solicitors and instruct your own Solicitors. Costs will be covered by the Insurance Company of the Defendant responsible for the collision.
We also have a wealth of experience in other areas of the accident compensation including tripping and slipping accidents, hearing loss and medical negligence.
We offer a wealth of experience in dealing with all sorts of injuries sustained at the workplace. Here again we engage in correspondence with the Insurers representing the Employer being sued. We arrange medical examinations and if amicable settlement is not achievable the matter will be brought to the appropriate Court. Your costs are paid in full in the event of you successfully establishing fault on the part of your Employer.
(including 24 hour emergency on call advice and representation at PSNI Stations)
We have extensive experience in representing Clients in various criminal Courts namely the Magistrates Court, Crown Court, High Court and Court of Appeal. We operate an on call system whereby we can be contacted by Police should Clients be arrested outside normal office hours.
We represent and provide advice on all areas of criminal law from the least serious to the most serious. We instruct when required a select number of experienced criminal Barristers to represent our Client’s best interests at the appropriate stage of proceedings.
Dermot Bowes & John Dornan are Solicitor Advocates.
Our offices in Bangor and Belfast enable us to serve the needs of our client base in Greater Belfast, North Down and Ards.
We deal with a substantial Legal Aid workload. We will immediately advise whether or not you may have entitlement to Legal Aid and make the appropriate Legal Aid Application on your behalf.
The practice is a fully accredited member of the Law Society Home Charter Scheme and a member of both the Lender Exchange and LMS Mortgage / Lenders panels and thus an approved practice for most main mortgage providers.
We regularly handle mortgages on behalf of clients with:
Halifax
Santander
Woolwich
Nationwide
Bank of Ireland
Progressive.
When acting in the sale of property we provide Title Deeds, Searches and Property Certificates to the Purchaser’s Solicitor. We attend to the redemption of any Mortgages secured on the property. More often than not we will handle simultaneously your purchase and sale making sure that there is a smooth transition from one home to a new home.
Our Conveyancing service also includes re-mortgaging work whereby we handle new mortgage instructions, secure new advances and redemption of existing mortgages.
On the house purchase front we will check the Title to the property you are buying and obtain from the Vendor’s solicitors all required Searches and Property Certificates to ensure that everything is in order. Most purchases involve a Mortgage and here we will liaise with your lender to ensure that purchase monies are available at the required time.
Marital breakdown involves a whole host of legal issues such as maintenance, child care and the distribution of matrimonial assets such as property, savings and pension provision. Again this is an area where we have extensive experience handling cases covering couples with limited assets to those with extensive savings and property portfolios.
Relationship breakdown frequently leads to problems with custody and contact with children. Two of our partners are members of the Children’s Order Panel and provide experience and guidance in this area of law which also involves “Care Proceedings” instigated by the local Health Care Trusts.
The Family Homes and Domestic Violence (NI) Order 1998 is a vital piece of legislation dealing with the scourge of domestic violence. The Order enables the victims of domestic violence to seek formal protection from the Court against further incidents of domestic violence and if appropriate actually exclude or remove a person from a property. These Orders are granted by the Magistrate’s Courts and we have considerable experience in dealing with these Orders to provide protection for our Clients.
Our offices in both Bangor and Belfast are well placed for providing services for clients in the Greater Belfast, North Down and Ards areas.
A large number of people still fail to take the simple, inexpensive steps required to spell out their financial wishes following their death. We can provide advice on the appointment of executors, guardians and the appropriate distribution of your assets. Here it may be necessary to consider the possible implications of inheritance tax. Again, advice is available. We regularly call with Clients at their home if they are not well enough or fit enough to call to our North Down or Belfast Offices.
The correct and proper distribution of deceased persons assets usually requires a formal application to the High Court for either a Grant of Probate (if there is a will) or Letters of Administration (if there is no will) and correspondence to various financial institutions to quantify and eventually liquidate the estate. We will attend to all of the above and, if required, convey property previously belonging to the deceased. Once the estate has been finalised we will distribute assets appropriately.
The enduring power of attorney enables clients to make provision for trusted persons to look after their affairs during their lifetime in the event of illness. We can explain this procedure and complete all required paperwork on clients behalf.
If required we are more than happy to call at clients homes to facilitate their needs.
We offer a comprehensive range of services from protection orders, renewals, transfers, the granting of new licences and general licensing queries.
We are an experienced practice in this area of law and offer a wealth of experience.
We presently attend to the full licensing requirements of the following establishments.
The Imperial Bar, Bangor.
The Georgian House, Comber.
The Berlin Arms, Belfast.
The Diamond Jubilee, Belfast.
Mourne Seafood, Belfast.
Home, Belfast.
La Taqueria, Holywood & Belfast.
Grace Neils, Donaghadee.
