Friday July 23, 2010 at 4:02pm
I’m feeling a little bit revolutionary. I think it’s time for a change. Something is blowing in the wind. Working together, we can change the world, and all that. The way people divorce needs to change. Over the length of time I have been doing these blogs, and some time before, I have talked about a whole host of changes that would make the separation process better, from no fault divorce, to pre-marriage counselling and compulsory mediation before a divorce can be agreed. Most rece....
Tuesday July 20, 2010 at 4:30pm
It is something we have all heard of, but is it a myth or is it prevalent? We are doing some research to find out. Have you or anyone you know stayed married for the sake of the children? My perception is that a generation or so ago this was relatively common. Couples did stay together, no matter what. Wives and husbands were more likely to remain in unloving marriages for a number of reasons: a feeling that there is no other option, fear of the unknown, or simply because it was the done thing a....
Wednesday July 7, 2010 at 10:39am
I guess it is only human nature to worry about money. But it still does strike me as unusual sometimes the importance people assign to the cost of a divorce. It comes ahead of how the process works, what will happen to the children and division of assets. So someone decides that they can no longer stay with the person they pledged to stay with forever when walking down the aisle. Or, if they’re not married but have been together for some time, someone with whom they may have bought a house....
Friday July 2, 2010 at 7:19am
My last blog got me thinking. That's a new one. I do generally think about these pearls of wisdom before I take finger to keyboard, but the last offering had me thinking on the topic a bit more deeply. We were talking about how to tell children about divorce and I suggested some guidelines which I hope could help make a difficult situation slightly easier for any offspring involved. Ultimately though, it is still going to be heartbreaking for them and in many cases made worse by that fact that s....
Thursday July 1, 2010 at 10:27pm
Nick Clegg has today asked us all to help the Government make divorce better. You can see the Family Justice Review Panel they have set up, here.
This could be a very complex subject, so to keep things clear I set out below some quick thoughts.
1. “Take the fault and blame out of divorce”. We hear this a lot and it seems to be blamed upon the absence of “no fault divorce”. Where does that phrase come from? The present law is not about fault but about grounds. If ....
Tuesday June 29, 2010 at 4:28pm
HELP! Please. Our
family solicitors are constantly frustrated by misunderstanding and misinformation – much of it I have to say fed by American TV and films and the British media. If I had a pound for every time someone as contacted my firm believing one of these three most common myths I’d be a rich man. Myth 1 -
Getting a divorce means going to Court. No it doesn’t. Getting a divorce is a very simple process. You have to file papers at Court certainly – but this can be ....
Tuesday June 29, 2010 at 10:22am
There are many upsetting things about working in family law. You see the pain and upset warring couples cause each other, the wider family relationships affected forever and, sometimes, courts hearing about all manner of family details you would think shouldn’t be aired in public. However, in my view, the effect that divorce has on children, particularly younger ones rather than those who have flown the nest, ranks as the most painful thing about divorce. If the children are younger, they ....
Friday June 25, 2010 at 7:04am
Woolley & Co is an unusual law firm – for a start we only do family law. Our lawyers work from a home office base and are given full flexibility to work and see clients when and where they want. But that’s not what makes us really different. Our difference is that we genuinely want to change the way couples’ divorce, to remove some of the barriers (like the concept of blame in divorce) and to minimise the disruption to the family. You might think we are idealists or t....
Tuesday June 22, 2010 at 4:37pm
For the first time, concrete plans are afoot to give millions of grandparents legal rights to be part of their grandchildren’s lives. The move, which will make it slightly easier for grandparents to apply to the court for the right to see their grandkids, recognises the huge role grandparents play as carers in this day and age, particularly if a relationship breaks down. On the face of it, this is a step forward. To date, they have had no rights and have had to apply to the courts for perm....
Monday June 14, 2010 at 2:56pm
There are few absolute rights in life, though the Americans have done their best by creating a Bill of all the ones they could think of. So it is difficult to understand why people think they have cast-iron rights when it comes to divorce and separation. You will still hear a distraught parent talk about their right to see their son or daughter (I did this week and it got me thinking about this topic), but the apparent rights of the parents when dealing with children are not what the authorities....
Thursday June 10, 2010 at 11:21am
I love gadgets. The latest technology has transformed the way I live my life, both at home but also professionally. Keeping in contact with everyone all the time via handheld, mobile, VOIP, email and more recently Twitter – though I am still finding my feet with it – has made it much easier for me to run a successful practice. Indeed, Woolley & Co is based on the principle that we use this technology to better keep in touch with clients and get cases moving forward as quickly as ....
Monday June 7, 2010 at 9:26am
As a couple gets older, they might reasonably expect life to slow down slightly and to spend time enjoying each others company. The kids have grown up and moved out so the house might seem a little big and empty but the resulting improvement in disposable income and quality of life more than compensates for many couples. Not everyone though. For some, the kids might have been the glue that kept them together. Or the job that goes when one or the other retires might leave a void. Or the (ve....
Friday May 21, 2010 at 8:43am
The media often campaigned in the past for the family and divorce Courts to be open to reporting. In the past they were totally closed.
Of course, nobody would want to see children identified, it is often said. How true could that be if they are the children of celebrities who seem to divorce very regularly and often much more spectacularly than the majority?
The last government "opened up the Courts" and allowed media access with safeguards. But there were problems from the st....
Wednesday May 12, 2010 at 4:01pm
So the results are in and the deals are done. All that remains now is to see some policies. The Dave and Nick show has gone live and they have bound themselves together for five years, as if about to embark upon a marathon three-legged race. At least that means there will be no secret on when the next general election will be. First Thursday in May, 2015. You heard it here first. They could end up tripping each other up though. Despite my reservations, I do have high hopes of something positive ....
Tuesday May 11, 2010 at 1:27pm
So after all the hype, here we are, no further forward. Perhaps even two steps back. I don’t think too many of us are surprised at the “result”. It was almost inevitable that the election would lead to a hung Parliament but still I held out hope we might get a decisive vote, rather than a score draw. Not to be. The constant news coverage continues with the political commentators seemingly about to wet themselves with excitement, or so it has seemed at some points over the last ....
Friday May 7, 2010 at 9:58pm
As I write this, the results from the general election are still being discussed. It looks like Conservatives will try to form a government. What this means for the family issues that each party has promised, pledged or alluded to, is unclear. I think I’ll wait until the dust settles a bit before having my say on that, so watch this space. But I did have the idea that this was quite a timely point to set down a type of manifesto of my own. Well, perhaps less a manifesto and more a six-poin....
Tuesday May 4, 2010 at 4:02pm
There is nothing more frustrating than collective wisdom. I guess that’s a posh phrase for it, but I am referring to an idea that someone clings to as an absolute because lots of people believe it - or someone has told an individual that it is true and they pass it on to others. The reality is that it is often not worth the paper it’s not written on. After all, rumours survive and Chinese whispers are bound by these same rules – but they have no basis in law. Take for example, ....
Tuesday April 27, 2010 at 9:18am
Single parents! Slovenly, all on benefit, all fat and lazy and their kids are all badly brought up and likely to be poorly educated drug taking criminals.
That is, if you believe the papers especially those on a Sunday. It seems never a week goes by without some "single parent bashing". Even at worst, surely the papers understand that for 50% of single parents it wasn't their fault that they are single!
It is time to stop. Single parents have to deal with access problems (now called....
Tuesday April 20, 2010 at 9:56am
You see? The system does work. Sometimes. A six-year old girl and her two brothers are to be allowed to stay living with their mum in the UK after an Appeal Court ruling took into account where the little girl said she would rather live. I think perhaps outside of legal circles, this will not be seen quite as the landmark that it actually is. Years ago, it used to be the case that children could be put in the horrible position of going to court, being put on the spot and being asked to choose be....
Tuesday April 13, 2010 at 2:02pm
Custody and access must be among the most misunderstood terms in family law – because they don’t officially exist any more. They used to of course, before the Children Act changed the terminology. But the 20th anniversary of that particular piece of legislation has been “celebrated” over the last couple of weeks and it is quite amazing that two words have stuck so strongly in the public’s consciousness, still bandied around 20 years after being replaced with “....
Wednesday April 7, 2010 at 8:59am
As The Guardian reported, the law has now changed to make it easier for gay couples to have chidren via the surrogacy route and be named as "parents" on the birth certificate. Indeed it will be possible, for the first time, for two men to be named as parents on the birth certificate.
Fertility law, surrogacy and same sex parenting is a complex area, albeit now somewhat simplified, but the article under the preceeding link gives an outline.
What amazes me is the reaction in the ....
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 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 February 22, 2010 at 5:47pm
Now I have never had any aspirations of being a star of the screen – small, large, silver, or otherwise. So when it was suggested that a nice, efficient and modern way (as befits a forward thinking firm) of communicating money-saving tips to clients and potential clients was via videos on our website, I was not too keen. However, I have come to realise that this is an effective way to get across a clear, concise message in today’s fast times. Have a look and let me know if you think ....
Friday February 12, 2010 at 9:38am
In a previous Blog I have suggested that the government might just as well do away with marriage and have done with it! This was based on the gradual removal of the benefits of marriage as they used to be such as tax incentives and the indications that people living together would be given the same legal rights.
But maybe politicians won't have to do anything at all? It seems that we are just less and less likely to marry anyway. Indeed recent reports show that we are less likely now to marry t....
Thursday February 4, 2010 at 4:45pm
The Law Gazette reports that children in divorce and family cases in Courts "do not trust newspapers". This was found after quite detailed research by the Children Commissioner for England. The presence of the Press might well cause children (and I dare say others) to restrict what they say in evidence.
Does anybody involved in Court proceedings trust the media? Should they? Should the media be allowed to be present at all in cases involving children especially given this finding?
Pe....
Thursday February 4, 2010 at 9:39am
"You should agree for a lower fee" is a completely understandable view we often hear from friends of our clients, normally. It is normally true. It is the actual Court hearings that normally cost the very large amounts of money and of course a Court hearing is a very good indicator of a complete failure to agree!
When shouldn't you agree?When you don't want to. Don't be bullied into agreeing because you "should".When fear of cost of divorce makes you. Ensure your divorc....
Tuesday February 2, 2010 at 9:16am
Grandparents rights is a hot topic right now. But normally in relation to grandparents rights to have contact (often called "access") to their grandchildren in the event of a divorce of their parents.
But Baroness Deech has strongly suggested that grandparents maybe should have a right to be financially supported by their children in return for the free childcare they will have given over the years. I do begin to wonder if the Baroness just looks for subjects she can get publicity fro....
Wednesday January 27, 2010 at 12:07pm
I think it is a national disgrace that grandparents are often the unchampioned losers when their children divorce. Woolley & Co are contacted regularly by members of the older generations distraught that the close relationship they shared with their grandchildren has been shattered by divorce and family break-up. We even advise readers of Grandparents Times on the issue when they ask what their rights are regarding seeing their offspring’s children. And the answer is always the same &n....
Tuesday January 26, 2010 at 2:13pm
The website www.maritalaffair.co.uk is the subject of a campaign by church organisations and indeed by a growing Facebook group who are seeking to shut it down or stop it advertising, at least on billboards.
Regular readers of this Blog will know that I am a strong supporter of the insitution of marriage, although I do accept that relationships sometimes end. So, what do I make of this?
First, let's remember that an affair is a nice, maybe exciting, word for "sexual interc....
Tuesday January 26, 2010 at 10:13am
Emotionally, is it worse to divorce in other words split up after a marriage or split up after "just" living together? Brangelina (should this be "Brand Gelina"?) have 6 kids (3 adopted) between them and just cohabited, but will they be less affected simply because they were not married, I wonder. I notice a tendency for me and I think many other people to assume many celebrities will be OK just because they have the odd £100 million in the bank? Is that fair?
Andrew ....
Monday January 25, 2010 at 4:47pm
Readers of this Blog know my irreverent attitude to celebrity divorce! But I had to comment on the reports (said to be false by the way) that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were splitting up. My comment is really on two things; the references to a prenuptial agreement being drawn up for the split and also the complexities of sorting out their finances if they are splitting. A prenuptial agreement is used before a marriage. I stress "before" and "marriage"! They are not married.....
Monday January 18, 2010 at 6:09pm
Families are becoming a hot political topic, not before time, but I still find it difficult to raise too much enthusiasm. Like so many times, the most recent rhetoric from both the Tories and Labour paints great big banner headlines but reveals little of the detail. According to reports, Labour will this week pledge support for families and parents going through separation and relationship breakdown. Very noble, but what will they actually do and how will this help? David Cameron, for his part, ....
Wednesday January 13, 2010 at 7:48am
New research has shown that more than two-thirds of consumers don’t know what solicitors do. The YouGov survey also showed only 13% of respondents would buy legal services from a supermarket but, encouragingly for us, more than three-quarters of those who have used a solicitor were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received. The same research though showed less than half said they would be fairly confident of judging the quality of help they received. Intriguing find....
Thursday January 7, 2010 at 4:00pm
A report from the Office for National Statistics shows that only 1 in 5 children live in married couple households.
Who cares?
Well, I do. That may sound odd coming from a
divorce lawyer, someone who helps married couples with how to divorce! But whilst I certainly think irretrievably unhappy couples should get a divorce, I have long argued for more funding from the government for support during marriage to keep it strong.
My comment about who cares is also directed at the government. It does....
Thursday December 31, 2009 at 5:25pm
How to divorce is one thing and we cover that elsewhere. But how to divorce and keep the children happy is much harder.
Of course, there is a lot of emotion around. I stress that when I use the word "happy" it is meant to mean "relatively happy" as normally they won't be. But sometimes they can be relieved to be away from a daily angry atmosphere, waiting for the rows to start.
My top tips are these:
do tell the children what is happening
try not to blame the other....
Monday December 21, 2009 at 3:27pm
Divorce lawyers in the UK are well used to being asked how to get a divorce without losing everything. There are two main aspects to this; how to save legal fees and also the best way to divorce. How to save on legal costs and lawyers fees • Try hard to agree what you can yourselves (but make sure you understand your rights first) • Get emotional support from friends or better still a counsellor but not your
divorce solicitor • Remember your aim; hopefully it is not to “get&....
Friday December 18, 2009 at 7:58am
As UK
divorce lawyers we see all ends of the spectrum when it comes to how couples divorce –whether they go through the process easily and in agreement; whether they experience emotional pain and distress or whether they put the gloves on with a determination to battle and fight every step of the way. From our years of experience of handling divorce cases it seems the couples who manage to stay friends after divorce are those who: • Don’t argue over the little things – the....
Tuesday December 15, 2009 at 2:36am
David Cameron has long made it clear that the party's policies should support marriage by tax advantages; perhaps like those that existed for many years?
I understand that this is backed by surveys suggesting children do better when raised within a marriage and a Conservative belief in the institution. I tend to agree that marriage should be supported in many ways, certainly in trying to avoid divorce.
Could the money be better used in providing counselling to couples in trouble? I think so.
....
Monday November 30, 2009 at 5:09pm
We are advising increasing numbers of Muslim people about talaqs and getting a divorce in England. It is quite a complicated area as the UK law, bascially, does not recognise a talaq pronounced in the UK but will if it is dealt with in e.g. Pakistan. Bizarre. (A "talaq", by the way, is effectively an Islamic divorce) There seems to be something of a backlash against it here, I wonder if that is because it can only be pronounced by men? Should we really be telling people how to live and....
Thursday November 26, 2009 at 7:50pm
This week saw the domestic violence charity Refuge launch the “Four Ways to Speak Out Campaign” to encourage sufferers of domestic violence to speak out and escape the domestic violence situation they find themselves in. Anyone can support the campaign in association with Avon cosmetics by doing one of the following:- 1) Sign a petition requesting the Government end the postcode lottery as 1 in 3 local authorities do not provide any domestic violence services 2) Buy an Avon empowerme....
Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 9:50pm
We are often asked about expat or international divorce and the issue of womens'
divorce rights in places such as Dubai often come up, normally with wild assumptions being made.
In fact Dubai, the UAE, are very far sighted when it comes to divorce rights. Of course UAE law is applied to Muslims. Non Muslims are dealt with by the use of the laws of their home country. So, an ethnic English person would reasonably expect to obtain the same settlement as they would in England.
This can come as a ....
Monday November 23, 2009 at 7:37pm
Maybe the Law Commission should just abolish all rights obtained during a marriage and have done with it? Why stop there? Let's just abolish marriage.
My reaction is to the gradual but increasing reduction of the difference between rights due to marriage and rights due to living together. The inexorable move is towards there being no difference at all. It started with the removal of tax relief, I think.
If it is shown that those ruling society don't respect the institution of marria....
Monday November 23, 2009 at 7:10pm
Divorce and counselling is a subject best left to the experts.
But, is nothing sacred? The field of divorce has increasingly been used by all political parties to attempt to show how "family friendly" or "child friendly" or even "marriage friendly" they are. Now it seems the government is suggesting that it can better arrange counselling for couples in crisis than Relate who have been doing it for years!
The Times reports that the government will soon advise GPs t....
Monday November 16, 2009 at 10:13am
Us
family lawyers are being asked more and more to advice on fertility law, surrogacy or donor conception arrangements.
Of course this area of law doesn't end there and there can be complex situations where, for example, a single woman and her best friend, male or female, want to co-parent. It is a legally dangerous area of law for those involved and can often have legal implications which greatly surprise people as one Andy Bathie will tell you. He donated sperm to a lesbi....
Wednesday November 11, 2009 at 10:09am
I am sure that the parents of Baby RB, the child with the serious medical condition in the news at the moment, always felt they knew what was in Baby RB’s best interests. Baby RB’s parents have been in the heartbreaking situation where their child is in hospital with a life threatening condition. The hospital referred the issue to the High Court arguing that RB’s life should be ended with his ventilator being switched off. The Mother of the child was in support of this believin....
Thursday October 29, 2009 at 9:41pm
I spent a day at a training session for all of our divorce lawyers this week, designed by experts in their fields, to help us all better understand and support our clients. This was especially connected with the emotional issues of divorce and relationship breakdown.
Actually, quite a few of our specialist divorce lawyers have suffered a divorce themselves. We are not immune, you know!
The course led me to wonder if divorce law firms should employ counsellors to offer the more comple....
Friday October 9, 2009 at 9:04am
Family law has suddenly, it seems, attracted the attention of all the political parties!
I will not bore you with their proposals for change (frankly, they don't add up to much except a lot of words) but these are some of mine:
require couples to have a course of information and counselling before marriage (e.g. "how to argue"!)
make prenuptial agreements clearly enforceable
make the automatic rule on divorce to be 50/50 unless there is a prenuptial saying otherwise
no f....
Thursday September 24, 2009 at 1:11pm
Grandparents rights is still an issue which is causing huge upset and it is so unecessary.
The Times reported a truly sorrowful tale of a grandfather (a retired Judge as it happens) effectively being stopped from seeing his grandchildren after his son had died and also tells his opinion of what he clearly sees to be the suffering caused by the Court system. It also makes it very clear that he thinks the Children Act requirement that grandparents should have to ask for permission to apply for co....
Thursday September 17, 2009 at 12:42pm
The Government is considering forcing divorcing couples to go to mediation before being able to start divorce proceedings. Looking at that quickly, you'd think that was a very sensible suggestion. All of us would think a mediated settlement was better than one obtained from a Court. (By "better" I do not mean a higher figure but one less destructive to relationships and often much cheaper) The Times reprots that Baroness Deech, is opposed." You can't mediate with a person or coupl....
Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 10:03am
Massive divorce
financial settlements are humiliating to women, according to Baroness Deech reported in The Times! Well, are they really? If so I know a lot of women who have got over the humiliation very well. I am sure it is not the
financial settlement that is humiliating, if anything it is the social engineering that even these days leaves the average woman much less better off than the average man. I am with her when she asks for the financial settlement upon divorce laws to be changed and ....
Friday September 11, 2009 at 5:23pm
There are so very many myths surrounding divorce, separation and also living together. You know the sort of thing:
"I'm not entitled to anything from his business" (true or false--click the link to find out!)
"I don't need to get married as I have the same rights as a common law wife"
"I can divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences"
There can be some humour here in some beliefs but actually these myths can cause people a lot of unneces....
Saturday September 5, 2009 at 7:27am
A new study just out shows that women are about 3 times more likely than men to be arrested for domestic violence. See this in the context that men are much more likely to be physically abusive, although women are more likely to use a weapon.
Perhaps of more concern is that children were present in 55% of cases involving some form of violence or similar abuse. The effect upon them probably cannot be measured and issues of child contact and residence loom large.
Our divorce lawyers are of....
Friday September 4, 2009 at 1:11pm
The Times was not alone in suggesting that divorce Courts in the south of England seem to favour wives more than Courts in the north of the country.
By "favour" I think they mean give bigger awards when dealing with a financial settlement after a divorce, which is often referred to as a
divorce settlement.
Do they favour wives in the south? Let's have a look at the views.
Many men would say that divorce Courts favour wives in every part of the country! But I do not think they do. ....
Monday August 24, 2009 at 8:58am
It is a long held view, certainly by men in general I think, that women are not as good as men at business and therefore at law.
Why? I have no idea. Maybe obviously I wouldn't know as most of our lawyers are women. This is a list of our divorce lawyers at present and you will see what I mean. (I have to say that one more male divorce lawyer is joining us very soon, but then so is one more female divorce lawyer!)
Many firms of solicitors employ a lot of female
divorce solicitors but very....
Friday July 31, 2009 at 2:42pm
Divorce settlements (known as “ancillary relief”) are complicated in themselves but the area of pensions and divorce even more so. This will normally need careful advice from an IFA pensions expert working closely with a divorce solicitor. But, put simply, apart from ignoring the issue there are 3 alternatives available to the divorce Court. The first is known as ‘off-setting’. This means that the court looks at the transfer value of the pensions and decides that the pers....
Tuesday July 21, 2009 at 12:47pm
As discussed in The Economist, until the economy became the big subject we heard a lot from politicians about “Broken Britain”, the reduction in marriage and the increase in divorce. Indeed recently, a Conservative think-tank has been suggesting counselling pre-marriage, a 3 month “cooling off” period before a divorce can be started and tax assistance if you get married (some of us are old enough to recall when this was normal!) So, what are the facts? Marriage is certain....
Friday July 17, 2009 at 2:43pm
Anybody going through a divorce surely wants it to be as "good" as possible? Obviously we tend to hear about "bad" divorces but that suggests there must be "good" ones! I suspect a "good" divorce must refer more to feelings than financial settlements, divorce costs, who got what and so on. But maybe where someone gets what they want as a divorce settlement, they'd tend to describe that as a "good" divorce? I am sure there is more to it than that.....
Monday July 13, 2009 at 4:33pm
The BBC web news site shows that the Tories seem to be trying to (well, if they get elected that is!) do something at last about the rate of divorce in the UK. It reports that they will require couples to have a 3 month "cooling off period" before they get a divorce, so that they can reflect and also consider reconciliation. They will also, apparently, "strongly encourage" couples to attend a marriage class before marrying.
Do I, as a divorce solicitor,....
Sunday July 12, 2009 at 8:54am
Due perhaps to the recession and downturn in the housing and jobs markets, many couples who split up now have to continue living "together", that is apart but in the same house. It doesn't take a divorce lawyer to explain how difficult that can be.
Many of our lawyers are members of Resolution, a grouping of lawyers which promotes minimising conflict in family disputes and encouraging solutions that meet the needs of the whole family. This is a link to their Factsheet on avoiding....
Thursday July 2, 2009 at 8:38am
Regular readers of this Blog will know that I don't have much time for celebrities and especially their divorces. That may partly be because most of the time I have no idea who these "celebrities" are!
But I read in The Guardian that a man described as having "celebrity status and a highly-publicised lifestyle" was involved in a case with his ex-partner about their child.Nigel Spearman QC, acting for the celebrity, is reported to have argued that: "In family law ca....
Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 9:19am
Glorious Grandchildren is, I think, a very good new resource for grandparents interested in all aspects of their grandchildren. Sadly, it is not always a glorious subject, especially when the parents set out to get a divorce. Issues of access, now called contact, often arise and "he / she won't let me see my grandchildren" is too often heard. Need to know more? This is a useful article which explores the issue of grandparents rights.
Andrew WoolleyFamily lawyer....
Thursday June 11, 2009 at 12:01pm
Four in ten grandparents lose contact with their grandchildren after the parents split up, new research has found. Divorce solicitors are well used to being asked about grandparents rights.Of 211 grandparents questioned on behalf of Families Need Fathers and the Grandparents' Association, 55 per cent said that, prior to the parents separating, they were directly involved in their grandchildren's care. However, two-thirds said that they were prevented from caring for their grandchildren fol....
Wednesday May 27, 2009 at 8:29am
I was a little nervous about typing the "f" word even with lots of * in it! But if it is good enough for a Lord Justice in the higher Courts then I guess it must be good enough for me, too!He was of course quoting the poet Philip Larkin who said in his poem This Be the Verse:
They f*** you up, your Mum and Dad They don't mean to, but they do. They fi....
Monday May 18, 2009 at 4:50pm
I have blogged before about Grandparents Rights. Did you know there aren't any?Well, not automatically anyway. Only with permission of the parents or the Court. What a disgrace.As you'll read in my previous Blog, about 42% of grandparents lose contact with their grandhcildren after the parents split up. 42%!This removes from the children a major potential source of support and unconditional love at a time when surely they need it most. The Government should do what it can to stem this loss by ru....
Wednesday May 13, 2009 at 8:31am
There are about 14 million grandparents in the UK and, would you believe, about 42% of them lose contact with their grandchildren after the parents split up, especially after a divorce when the parties have become bitter towards each other.
This is a quite horrific figure, given how much unconditional love and stability can often be gained by children going through a split. And how a then single parent might cope without the help of at least 1 of the sets of grandparents as well as the other pa....
Monday May 11, 2009 at 7:58pm
The Government recently allowed journalists into family law Courts for the first time, in the routine sense. A lot of our clients are worried and there has been a lot of misinformation in the Press.Any journalist will be checked to ensure they are just that and also have to be accredited to be allowed in. All our lawyers know these rules but I hear that family lawyers in many firms do not, indeed we hear many Courts do not either. Do make sure your lawyer knows them!
These are the main things t....
Wednesday April 15, 2009 at 9:14am
The CSA, known and "beloved" of many has a new name! Will people now change to calling it the CMEC?!But there are many changes of real substance. There are now CMEC guidelines for calculation of child support also called child maintenance and also a new method of calculating child support to be brought in 2011. Their website makes a useful very quick read for what is happening with child support between now and 2011, all of which should be borne in mind now.
Karen Agnew-GriffithS....
Friday April 3, 2009 at 6:48pm
I read that Madonna's latest attempt to adopt a child from Malawi has been rejected--for now--by a Judge. There is something distasteful about her adoption habit, is there not? There are many children in the UK who are not adopted despite many people thinking that would be best, probably including the children themselves. The reasons can be many and are often more complex than at first glance but watch out if you are overweight, over 40--sometimes younger--not from an appropriate race etc. Peopl....
Monday March 16, 2009 at 9:45am
There is an article, today, in the Mail Online about the relationships between Tess Simpson (a novelist) and her ex-husband Brent Sadler (who was a correspondent with CNN), their children and their respective new spouses.Getting a divorce is one thing, but there are often still children and they will be living in a different situation. A
family lawyer can sort out issues such as residence, parental rights (responsiblity) and contact but the people involved do have to work hard to work toget....
Thursday March 12, 2009 at 12:04pm
The Law Society is hosting an emergency summit on 26 March 2009 to debate the proposal by justice secretary Jack Straw to open family law Courts to the general public and the media.The concern is the potential impact on children’s rights in opening up the courts to the public and the fact that press scrutiny will be applied to the most vulnerable of people in very difficult situations.Although the intention is that more openness will bring about an improvement in legal standards, there&rsq....
Thursday March 5, 2009 at 5:15pm
Child support or child maintenance is financial support that helps towards a child’s everyday living costs. Payment is made by the absent parent to the parent, caregiver or guardian, with whom the children live – the parent with residence. In family law, child support is not arranged as part of a divorce as such but the Court will want to be assured that arrangements regarding contact and residence have been agreed by the parents. The Courts no longer have powers to order the payment....
Monday March 2, 2009 at 4:37pm
The Daily Mail today reports that:Family values were under attack again last night with the news that single women having IVF will be able to name anyone they like as their baby's father on the birth certificate. New regulations mean that a mother could nominate another woman to be her child's 'father'. The 'father' does not need to be genetically related to the baby, nor be in any sort of romantic relationship with the mother. Who is named as father is actually very important in law as it ....
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....
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 ....
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....
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....
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....
Thursday January 29, 2009 at 9:03am
Parents going through a divorce have been advised to put their children first as part of an awareness campaign for National Divorce Day. ChildLine and NSPCC parenting portal Your Family is aiming to help parents guide their kids through a family break-up with as little impact as possible. As divorce lawyers we know only too well how important it is that children have the changes which occur as a result of divorce explained to them and that they realise that it's not their fault.
Although it's d....