Saturday February 28, 2009 at 7:53pm
Q. If I leave will I be allowed to see my children?A. The starting point is that contact with both parents is desirable, and likely to be in the child's best interests, unless there have been allegations of, for example, abuse or neglect. If you cannot agree a sensible pattern of contact with your spouse/partner, you can ask the court to step in and make an order. The court will take into account a number of factors, called the "welfare checklist" to decide whether contact is in the ch....
Friday February 27, 2009 at 2:26pm
The BBC reports that "Britain's largest relationship counselling service says there has been a rise in couples seeking help over the last few months, particularly over financial matters. Relate says two thirds of its centres have seen an increased demand for counselling."I admit to being a little surprised that this is News!Getting a divorce and a
financial settlement have, in themselves, always been more difficult in hard financial times and I am sure nobody would be surprised that an....
Thursday February 26, 2009 at 9:47am
A report due out today from Resolution (a group of
family lawyers committed to promote the settling of issues in a non-confrontational and amicable manner) says that poorer couples are being denied the opportunity to choose the collaborative law process because of the lack of legal aid. Collaborative family law helps couples resolve disputes over divorce or separation through face-to-face negotiations between the parties and their lawyers. It was introduced from the US in 2003, and more than 1,2....
Wednesday February 25, 2009 at 6:21pm
It is often forgotten (including dare I say by lawyers who are not specialist
divorce solicitors) that whether people have been married or not and whether there is yet a divorce or not does not stop the Court dealing with the housing for and sometimes the child maintenance involved in the case. The Children Act provides for, effectively, a financial settlement for children and often child maintenance too. Judges will often make Orders allowing the children and therefore the parent with day ....
Tuesday February 24, 2009 at 9:01am
Can I divorce in the UK is a question increasingly asked of family lawyers by Brits lving abroad.If you need a divorce you apply to the courts of the country in which you live or were married – right? Not necessarily, and for ex-pats or those originally from other countries who’ve made a home in the UK, it is far from being clear cut. It becomes even foggier when you consider marriages across borders with children born in other countries. And neither of their parents may actually be ....
Saturday February 21, 2009 at 9:05am
Prenuptial agreements have always been something many later divorcing people wished they’d had—ask Paul McCartney for example. Divorce solicitors have often suggested their use.
And there was a case recently McLeod v McLeod in which the Courts had an opportunity to say they were legally binding—which had always been their “Achilles’ heel”. But the Court referred the issue back to parliament and I hope they make law in this respect.
However the Court did sa....
Thursday February 19, 2009 at 11:00am
How to get a UK divorce is often asked of us, perhaps mainly by expats. It is not always a simple issue to decide if the English Courts can deal with an international divorce but a specialist
divorce solicitor can advise. But increasingly family lawyers are called upon to advise upon divorces pronounced abroad under very different laws. There was a time when the English courts did not approve of divorces abroad unless they followed a set procedure not unlike that in England. But times have chang....
Wednesday February 18, 2009 at 6:30pm
...until you get a nasty surprise at the end"
This is a common assumption and should be wrong.
Traditionally family lawyers charge by an hourly rate and the bill adds up over the length of the case. To my amazement probably most divorce solicitors still follow that procedure. And indeed the
cost of divorce can come as a surprise at the end.
I'd like to claim a first! I think we pioneered fixed fee divorce and setting them out publicly on our website some years ago. They are not for al....
Tuesday February 17, 2009 at 6:07pm
Getting a divorce is not easy. Avoiding a messy divorce is harder. Often the
grounds for divorce cause upset in themselves. And that is without discussing the cost of divorce.
So, how to get a UK divorce without too much upset and mess?
Using a specialist divorce solicitor would be a good start. That apart I think that "talk" and "honesty" would be my main tips after over 25 years of being a
divorce lawyer.
I have set out some more detail which can be downloaded here,....
Monday February 16, 2009 at 3:35pm
The Mail (online) tells us that a report out today has found that a third of parents who have split from their partner never see their children. The article says:
“The study showed that 29 per cent of separated mothers and fathers said the partner who had left the family home had no contact with their children.
In these families half of 'resident' parents still living with the children said this was because the 'non-resident' parent had decided not to see the children.
Another 24 per....
Friday February 13, 2009 at 5:27pm
I read in the Times that the marriage rate is at an all time low. Apparently, only one in 50 single women now marries each year, and only one in 43 single men. It seems that probably only 48% of people over 16 are married. This is no doubt a reflection of the amount of people who say I want a divorce. But also on the amount of people choosing living together, common law marriage as it is (legally incorrectly) known. I have called before for help for couples in understanding the emotional and&nbs....
Thursday February 12, 2009 at 10:19am
If you hope to get a share in your spouses' pension then it just might be wise to wait a while. One of our specialist divorce lawyers was an officer in the RAF and she reminds me that previously announced changes are soon to come into effect (9th April). The full info on how this will be dealt with is yet to be provided but the Armed Forces Pension website says: "Currently, the earliest age a Pension Credit Member (PCM) can draw their pension resulting from PSG is age 65. For all ....
Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 2:59pm
PC Retail has found that small business owners are more likely to divorce their spouse than change their IT provider.
There is certainly a large amount of stress and practical difficulty in changing IT suppliers, but I do begin to wonder if some people think that
getting a divorce is easy. It isn't, as many will testify. Family lawyers cannot advise whether or not to change IT provider but can certainly say that getting a divorce is going to be a much more difficult experience all round. And th....
Wednesday February 11, 2009 at 11:53am
"I saw John's little person having it off with another man in a dungeon on the screen," said horrified Lisa, 28. Second Life, I guess you know, is a pretend other world but many take it seriously. The News of the World (so we must take care!) reports that Lisa B caught her husband, John, "with his online trousers round his ankles--having gay dungeon romps in the web world Second Life." It seems she is going to divorce him. Divorce solicitors often help people with detai....
Monday February 9, 2009 at 1:10pm
I am sure you will have heard by now, even if you try to avoid hearing such things, that Peaches Geldof and her husband of 6 months have separated and intend to divorce.
It was reported that she said soon after the marriage that she didn't view it as "forever".
Divorce solicitors do hear of similar, if not quite so extreme and "fashionable" very short marriages. They can have a significant impact. But in English law they cannot start a divorce until at least 1 year of marri....
Sunday February 8, 2009 at 10:25am
Senior Judges from the Midlands area have published a paper indicating to parents what actions they expect of them before going to Court about the children, in divorce and separation cases.
No doubt the paper is aimed at divorce solicitors who advise in these cases and it is expected the comments will be passed on. They should be of course, but are they naive comments?
When there are major problems over children issues between parents, they are often due to the fact that at least one pa....
Sunday February 8, 2009 at 9:34am
Getting a divorce is hard enough, but not being allowed to see your child must be very difficult and upsetting. As must the other parent refusing to see the child. After all, we are supposed to be doing what is in the child's best interests. As family lawyers we see a lot of this happpening.
And not just to the parents, what about grandparents rights?But I imagine it is so much worse in child contact cases when a Court Orders these things to happen and people don't obey them. And it has often b....
Thursday February 5, 2009 at 6:14pm
I know that many people believe that speaking to or taking advice from a divorce solicitor means some form of commitment to going to Court. But it does not.
By far the majority of our clients keep well away from Court. A good specialist lawyer will be well used to negotiating and mediating a settlement. Often it can pay to choose a firm which is a member of Resolution and or who can deal with collaborative law.
The right approach can often keep people out of Court. But of course you can ....
Tuesday February 3, 2009 at 3:47pm
Many will have read that the Courts ordered that Madonna could keep the children with her in the US. In fact, it seems that Guy Ritchie and Madonna made an agreement which covered this.
Often a sensible agreement and settlement will resolve all issues including divorce and separation together with issues surrounding children and divorce along with the finances.
It seems, in fact it is, only a few months since news that they might divorce came out and it is already over. They used collaborativ....
Tuesday February 3, 2009 at 2:59pm
I see from the Independent that rich men (are there no rich women?) are rushing for divorce and separation whilst their pension funds and investments are at their lowest for many years or they have been made redundant. Redundancy and divorce is no doubt a very stressful and deeply upsetting time but maybe some people can find some form of silver lining. Presumably their investments will recover strongly over the next few years and they will hopefully get another job so they may feel they have ha....