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The principle that British persons divorced abroad can look to the courts in England and Wales to ensure that their ‘reasonable needs’ are met in the divorce settlement has been firmly established following a recent case involving a divorced...
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It is often thought that, when couples live together, they have similar rights to those who are married or in a civil partnership. However, this is far from the truth, as a barrister found out recently when she lost her case in the High Court . The...
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A will made two months before the death of an elderly woman has been set aside by the High Court after it heard evidence that by 2006, when the new will was made, she was ‘seriously losing her grip’. The new will left the woman’s entire...
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When a wife agrees to allow the family home to be used as security for her husband’s debts, the legal situation is normally clear and the creditor can rely on her consent in order to take possession. However, a recent case , in which a wife...
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The argument put forward by a farmer that he should retain the family farm after his divorce, because it had been in his family for generations and his wife was aware that it was the family tradition for it to be handed down from generation to generation,...
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The penalties for failure to pay child maintenance, which can be severe, are not affected by the statute of limitations that normally applies to debts. A father who had failed to pay maintenance for several years recently found himself subject to a...
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Divorce is rarely a simple process: the financial negotiations can be time-consuming and difficult, particularly if business interests form a substantial part of a couple's wealth. There are certain problems which are particularly relevant to...
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A recent case illustrates that cohabiting with someone else after a divorce may affect any maintenance payments received. In the case, a man who had been ordered to pay his wife £125,000 a year in maintenance succeeded in persuading the...
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The Supreme Court has clarified the role of the courts in child protection cases, as a result of a recent case concerning a baby boy who had been the victim of abuse. The judge in the lower court had concluded that there was a 60...
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A ‘super-rich’ husband will be regretting that he shared a computer system with his wife’s brothers after she was able to access the system and extract data from it. The husband challenged her right to the data but the court agreed that she...
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When considering who was likely to have caused injury to a child, for the purpose of determining who should have care of the child, the civil or ‘balance of probabilities’ approach is the one that must be taken in all instances. The severity of...
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Millions of Britons could see their credit ratings compromised without knowing it, simply because of the actions of an ex-spouse, says online credit report service Credit Expert. According to the recent report, more than half of those surveyed did not know...
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It can sometimes be difficult not to pre-judge events, but it is important not to do so in court. In a recent case, the court overturned a judge’s dismissal of an application for contact from a father. The father had appealed against the judge’s...
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It is a cardinal rule in court proceedings in the UK that both parties to a disagreement must have a fair chance to state their side of the argument. This is particularly important in family cases, which are often complex and invariably emotionally charged. ...
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Under the Children Act 1989 , a court may only make a care order or a supervision order if it is satisfied that the child concerned is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. In a recent case, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of a...
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Family break-up is always complicated and when there is a property involved, things can get very complex indeed. In principle, when a couple are cohabiting (not married or in a civil partnership) the property belongs as of right to whoever is shown on the...
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The Supreme Court has recently ruled to give the grandmother of a child custody over him despite the opposition of the boy’s father, who applied to have custody himself. In the view of the Court, acting in the child’s best interests means that...
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When dividing family assets on separation or divorce, judges sometimes make some surprising decisions. Where these are erroneous or unfair, they can be overturned. In a recent case, a judge ruled that in order to achieve a ‘clean break’ between...
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Since the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 came into force on 25 November 2008, a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO) has been issued in 86 cases. This compares with a predicted total for the first year of 50. FMPOs were introduced to help...
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It may be assumed that when a couple purchase a property in equal shares, that is how ownership remains, but it isn’t necessarily so. In a recent case, the High Court had to rule on the ownership of a house, which had been bought for £30,000 by...
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The children of celebrities have the same right to anonymity in court proceedings as any other children, following a ruling of the High Court. The press have only been allowed into the family courts since April 2009 and can be excluded by the court when...
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It is not uncommon on divorce for one ex-spouse to remain in the family home and the other to retain an interest in it after moving out. The importance of having documentation in place relating to the arrangements agreed upon in this situation is obvious, as...
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The Court of Appeal has taken the unusual step of considering an appeal in a matrimonial case which was settled by agreement before the appeal was heard. In the High Court, the ex-wife of a wealthy man had failed to obtain an ‘uplift’ to her...
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Cases involving the custody of children are often very contentious and need to be approached with sensitivity and care. Recently, the Court of Appeal was called upon to rule in just such a case, the critical issue being whether the judge in the family court...
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The recent case in which the Court of Appeal ruled that a German heiress was able to rely on a pre-nuptial agreement made with her husband was widely reported as meaning that the traditional view of the courts, that ‘pre-nups’ are little more...
