Tuesday March 30, 2010 at 9:44am
“Divorce shopping” is a relatively new term to many. It relates to where a couple – or individual – looking to divorce and who can potentially do so in a number of countries, researches where they might get the best deal before starting proceedings. So if an English man is married to Spanish lady and they are living in Italy, there are at least three sets of rules they could look at to see where they will bag a bargain. Now the EU is looking to bring in new regulation to ....
Thursday March 25, 2010 at 8:11am
"Sue the bitch", might well be the understandable reaction from wives towards a mistress, especially if she targetted the well off husband for seduction as we increasingly hear of.
So far as I am aware, it isn't possible in English law to do so but it certainly is in the US where one mistress has to pay £6 million in damages to the upset wife. It appears the mistress had indeed targetted the husband. The subsequent break-up "devastated" the wife and indeed their childr....
Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 1:23pm
So often we get many firms failing to use e-mail for discussions betwen us. Presumably they prefer their communication to take 2+ days to reach us than about 2 minutes? Over the length of a divorce I think that could make about a 2 month difference. Imagine that! I cannot see any benefit to the law firms in the delay.
In fairness, those firms such as mine who try to use normal, modern communication methods are not helped by the whole system we are working within (the Court system) making next t....
Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 9:42am
There was an interesting column in the Guardian last week which has got me thinking a lot about the real reasons behind relationship break-ups. In it, columnist Zoe Williams suggests that there is no great myth behind why people – and especially celebrities – split up. This is not a creation of “Broken Britain” nor are pampered celebrities more likely to get divorced than anyone else. It is simply the case that it is normal for people to fall out and break up. Those manag....
Monday March 22, 2010 at 9:29am
We all hear, it seems daily, about yet another "celebrity divorce" or the make believe "quickie divorce" they often claim to obtain. We hear about the agonising over whether the settlement should be £200million or £300million. What a hard life and tough case that must be! Let's have a look at a more normal case, we'll call them John and Sarah and make them Mr & Mrs Middle England, perhaps our typical client. It is Sarah who comes in to see us. John (we are tol....
Friday March 19, 2010 at 3:32pm
There is a temptation for us lawyers to judge other lawyers based mainly upon their technical legal ability. “She’s a good lawyer” (or not) is often heard. What do we know? Yes, us lawyers can judge if another lawyer has excellent legal knowledge as we are qualified to know. But what is the real test of a good lawyer? What effects do we have when dealing with a divorce or other family law issue? Should it not be our clients who have the say in whether we are a good lawyer or no....
Monday March 15, 2010 at 5:11pm
Having children is not a cheap business. I don’t think many people would claim that they were left better off after their offspring were born. What is less obvious is the additional stress that having twins can bring upon a couple, as demonstrated in the results of a new study out this week showing parents who have twins, triplets or young children very close together are more likely to divorce. The University of Birmingham research team analysed the annual Family Resources Survey for 2004....
Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 4:02pm
I’ve done my best to keep my own counsel about celebrity divorce recently. It has been a struggle. As regular readers of this blog will know, in the past, I have had a bit to say about the cult of celebrity, the column inches dedicated to it and the myths perpetuated in newspapers about so called “quickie” divorces which appear to be the preserve of celebrities and are, in actual fact, nonsense. As I said, I have done my best to turn over a new leaf and live and let live. ....
Monday March 1, 2010 at 3:13pm
Another week, another politician talking about marriage. This week it was David Cameron again, restating the Tory intention to give tax breaks for married couples. The idea has been met with enthusiasm by the Roman Catholic Church, apparently, which has suggested this is a big vote winner among congregations up and down the country. Whether those congregations now have significant numbers to affect the course of a general election or not remains to be seen. The Red side of the House has suggeste....