Now from our perspective this has been a big week in Milton Keynes family law as the President of the Family Division, the top judge in family law, Sir James Munby, has come to visit us in Milton Keynes. The visit of the President to the county court here is part of his progress around…
We all know the old adage about death and taxes being the only certainties in life. Following a hearing in the High Court in November*, we are unable to add “receipt of your spousal maintenance” to that list. In 2004, a wife was awarded £750 per month in spousal maintenance on a joint lives basis….
I am a Francophile, and enjoy keeping up with the French news when I can. Their media is as interested in divorce as our media is here in the UK. This week I read a family law story about a consultation which is currently under way as to whether judges really need to be involved…
The current cost of a divorce in the courts of England and Wales is £410. For this sum your petition is checked, issued and posted anywhere in the world, the acknowledgement of service document is considered by a clerk and sent to you, your Decree Nisi application is set down for a hearing by a District Judge,…
It has been said that “Divorce is a game played by lawyers”. Whilst I am reluctant to refer to something as serious as divorce as a game, it is a helpful analogy. If divorce is a game, the instruction sheet for that game now has two versions, one for the DIY self represented person, and…
What leads a court to order a husband and his companies to pay £1.5 million towards his wife’s legal costs in financial proceedings in divorce? In a case this month* a husband, Mr M, was ordered to personally pay a little over £1 million towards his wife’s legal fees. The companies in the case, which…
“Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.” The OED helpfully reminds us that “to divorce” can of course mean not just to legally dissolve a marriage, but also separate, sever, detach, which is the version of the word used in this quote by Jim Morrison….
Milton Keynes was chosen last week to be the UK pilot town for the driverless car: Vince Cable announced that a £1.5 million pilot scheme would start with 20 driverless vehicles in 2015 being available to take rail passengers to Centre MK, leaving the passengers free to email and surf the on screen web en…
I have written before about a young man in 1916 who promised a young lady the earth (including an engagement ring) but failed to honour the word that she took as binding. Gladys took him to court for child maintenance and for breach of promise – and secured herself the princely sum of £35 in…
In November 2011 the Family Justice Review was published. This was the work of an independent panel, headed up by David Norgrove, who had been asked by the government to consider the changes which should be made to make the family justice system in this country more effective. The government accepted the majority of findings,…
