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…
What is parental responsibility?
“Who has parental responsibility for this child?” is a question which often pops up on forms that you fill out for your child, whether at school or at the doctors. Courts are sometimes required to make a decision about this…
Did you know the gender of your first born child affects the likelihood of divorce?
Parents of first born girls are significantly more likely to divorce than parents of first born sons. The probability that a first marriage with a first born daughter will end in divorce is 2.2% higher than for a first marriage…
Contact disputes and court orders
In my earlier post “What is shared residence?” I looked at how residence disputes focus on whether a child should reside with one parent, and spend time with the other parent, or reside with both parents. It is not the…
Plus ca change: how do you calculate child maintenance?
Reading a book* about Milton Keynes this week, I came across a rather pertinent tale from a 1916 edition of the Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News. It referred to a letter which had been written by a young man Leonard…
Family lawyers, and the Milton Keynes grid system
I was contacted this week and asked to write about a specific problem which has arisen in the life of a reader’s family member, who has suffered a relationship breakdown, and is unmarried, not on the house deeds and is…
What is shared residence?
Today, The Centre for Social Justice thinktank published a press release, stating that one million children in the UK grow up in a “man desert” with no contact with their father or a male role model or a male teacher.…
Facebook and family law
Social media certainly has the capacity to get people into legal difficulties. The High Court found last week that a tweet posted by Sally Bercow was libellous, and as a result, she is going to be paying out damages for…
Who decides where children live when parents separate?
When parents separate, decisions have to be made about where their children are going to live. The court’s view is that the parents are best left to make these arrangements for themselves, as long as there are no Social…