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…
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…
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…
“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,…
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…
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…
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…
A specific issue order answers a specific question in relation to a child. The Children Act defines a specific issue order as an order giving directions for the purpose of determining a specific question which has arisen, or which may arise,…
I have written before about the tendency of the family law system to divide areas of life into discrete boxes. If you have engaged a solicitor to help with divorce, financial and children issues, you may well find that this…
The French Senate passed an amendment last week providing that on relationship breakdown there is now a presumption that there will be shared care of the children from that relationship. If a judge makes an order other than shared residence…