Family Law

Following the sad case of Mrs Owens who was forced to remain in a loveless marriage after being denied a divorce over the summer, there has been increasing pressure on the government to change the law on divorce. The association of family lawyers,...

Currently married couples must either use adultery or unreasonable behaviour if they wish to divorce in the first two years of separation. Otherwise they must wait two years and have the consent of their spouse or wait five years if their spouse does not...

You can reach agreement direct  with your spouse regarding the fina ncial aspects of the divorce if you so wish. You should bear in mind however that no agreement is legally binding...

Not necessarily but the property will need to be considered as part of the overall settlement upon divorce. This is the case even if the property is registered in your sole name because your spouse may still have an entitlement to a share of the property...

Would you allow your ex and their new partner to move into your home? Probably not but that is exactly what one woman did for a television program, The New Wife, shown on Channel 5 last night. Ashleigh and her ex-partner Matt have a four-year-old daughter,...

A report published at the beginning of August has revealed that 78% of the UK population now own a smartphone in comparison with just 17% in 2008. On average we are checking our phones every 12 minutes and using them within five minutes of waking up. Whilst...

The Family Court have departed from the sharing principle in a recent case involving an extremely wealthy husband and wife. The wife came from a wealthy family and the husband was the Chief Executive of a successful company. During the course of the...

The Supreme Court ruled last week in the unhappy case of Mr and Mrs Owen. They were married in 1978 and have two adult children however Mrs Owens states she had been unhappy in the marriage since 2012. She finally decided to leave in 2015 and began divorce...

Generally such an agreement would confirm who owns what presently, what the financial arrangements should be while you live together e.g. how much you should each contribute to the joint account on an on-going basis and what should happen to the...

With the school holidays fast approaching you are probably thinking about your next family getaway. If you share parental responsibility with any other person, you may be wondering whether you need any permissions...

The short answer is no, and in fact most divorcing couples do not ever need to attend court. The vast majority of divorces are uncontested and are dealt with by posting documents to the court for them to be considered and the divorce is then granted. ...

A recent YouGov poll found that over 40% of grandparents aged 50 and above have provided regular childcare for their grandchildren. Children are therefore much closer to their grandparents and the impact of family breakdown or divorce , and the loss of...

Yes. If everyone who has parental responsibility for the child agrees, you can enter into a parental responsibility agreement . The child’s mother will have parental responsibility and the father will have parental responsibility if he was married to...

A Prohibited Steps Order is an order granted by the Court preventing a parent from doing certain activities or events or making specific trips with their child/children. It allows the Court to apply a restriction upon a mother or father’s parental...

In most cases following the breakdown of a relationship between parents, the contact that grandparents have simply forms part of the contact that they have with the parent that belongs to that side of the family.  There are however some very...

As part of Divorce proceedings the Court will need to look at the parties finances. Pensions are often a major asset which will need to be considered. More often than not at least one party will have a pension which has accrued during the marriage. The...

Though there is no straight answer as to whether you can make a claim against your husband or wife’s pension in the event of divorce , we have broken down your options below. Much of it will depend upon the length of the marriage, the amount of...

There is no one definition of domestic abuse or violence that is universally accepted. Domestic abuse can comprise a wide range of acts or behaviours and can cover a range of domestic relationships . Domestic violence or abuse can include (but is not...

Unfortunately unless Harry or Meghan choose to tell the world we will probably never know. Prenuptial agreements are private documents, they are not a matter of public record and are not done through the courts. There is therefore no record of them, other...

Next month the Supreme Court is due to hear the case of a wife currently stuck in a loveless marriage but who has been denied a divorce. Mr and Mrs Owen were married in 1978 and had two children together. Their marriage broke down and they separated in 2015....