Blog
Cohabitation reform now on government agenda
There are some 3.6 million cohabiting couple families in the UK, making up one in five of all families. And yet all of these couples have little or no legal protection if they split up. Worse still, many of them believe that they do have the same protection as married...
Court orders urgent transfer of residence to father in light of mother’s alienating behaviours
When courts make decisions concerning arrangements for children following parental separation, they will obviously do so by reference to what they consider to be best for the welfare of the children. Sometimes this can mean that the court must make a decision...
Report highlights issue of domestic abuse in financial remedy proceedings
It is well understood that domestic abuse can often be an issue in proceedings between parents over arrangements for their children. Indeed, findings of domestic abuse are likely to have a significant bearing upon the outcome of such proceedings.But what of domestic...
Court should determine mother’s abuse allegations before allowing father to have unsupervised contact
It is sadly the case that when one parent applies to the court for a child arrangements order to see their children, the other parent may raise serious allegations of domestic abuse against the applicant parent. The court will of course have to determine the truth of...
How a prenuptial agreement can affect a divorce settlement
In many jurisdictions prenuptial agreements are given contractual status, so that the parties will almost always be held to them. In such circumstances the outcome of the case will obviously usually simply follow the terms of the agreement. But in England and Wales...
Wife not entitled to a pension share in addition to an award to meet her needs
When the court considers a financial settlement on divorce it will take into account all of the circumstances of the case, including the income, property and other financial resources of the parties, the duration of the marriage, and the contributions which each of...
The ‘dos and don’ts’ of protecting assets on divorce
Anyone with substantial financial assets is obviously not going to be happy at the prospect of losing a large proportion of those assets in the course of divorce proceedings. Protecting assets from any future divorce is therefore often uppermost in the mind of anyone...
New rules to encourage out of court resolution
The benefits of resolving family disputes outside the court room hardly need stating. Non-court dispute resolution, as it has become known, is (amongst other things) quicker, cheaper, and far less stressful. Yet despite those benefits many couples still choose to go...
FT v JT: Valuing and realising a share in a spouse’s business
It is not uncommon that one spouse will seek a share of the other spouse’s business assets on divorce. But this raises at least two questions: how do you go about valuing the share, and how can the share be realised, given in particular that an immediate sale of the...
What is family mediation, and what are its benefits?
What is family mediation, and what are its benefits? It goes without saying that family law disputes should be resolved by agreement, rather than through the courts. Contested court proceedings are time consuming, expensive, and stressful, and should be avoided if at...