Monday February 6, 2012 at 9:00am
DIY divorce is an unusual concept if you ask me. Household DIY is fine, putting a shelf up or painting the ceiling, fairly straightforward and not dependent on any significant specialist skills.
Starts to get a bit different when you talk DIY in relation to your car. When your car breaks down, most people will not go online to buy a standard repairs pack and then fit the bits themselves in the hope that everything will be fine. You need to have an idea of where to start and perhaps....
Thursday February 2, 2012 at 9:00am
Our advice to clients going through a divorce is always to try and remain calm in the face of adversity, remain polite to your soon-to-be ex and try not to enflame an emotional situation as it could end up costing more time and more money. We know this is a tall order. It is what people should aim for but in the face of extreme provocation from estranged partners who may be getting quite the opposite advice from their Rottweiler
divorce lawyer, it can be a nigh-on impossible task. We....
Monday January 30, 2012 at 9:00am
There is no doubt that we are in difficult times. When established high street and brand names like Kodak and Peacocks are hit by the economic crisis, you know “times are hard”. Consumers are cutting back, making economies. Almost daily on the news there are reports of like for like sales being down. By all accounts, trading over Christmas was not great, with a few exceptions like Primark – which is unashamedly a budget brand.
It’s no surprise t....
Thursday January 26, 2012 at 9:00am
More than almost any other word I can think of, divorce comes with a lot of baggage. And there is no pun intended there! Say the word and people immediately think of 1,000 different things connected with it, from conflict and upset, to kids, cost and quickies.
The reality of course is that a divorce is simply the legal ending of a marriage. To get a divorce, you must have been married for more than one year. There are then certain steps which need to be gone thr....
Thursday January 19, 2012 at 9:00am
It has taken family law a long time to ensure that children are put at the heart of any contact and residence issues. What is best for them is the starting point and I firmly believe that is how it should be.
Most of the time, this will involve them having contact with both parents, with both sides of the equation having a tangible impact on their offspring’s upbringing. And in most instances, this will be agreed between the parents, enshrined by the court and off everyone will go. H....
Wednesday January 18, 2012 at 9:00am
Having mentioned the apparent annual rush for the
divorce lawyers that we see in January each year a couple of times already in the last few weeks, I have been thinking more on this topic. The driver for this is the desire for us to do away with this unwanted tradition and for people to take a deep breath and consider the state of their marriage in the cold light of mid-January rather than on the last day of a two-week stay by the mother-in-law over new year. However, it was the question of ....
Monday January 16, 2012 at 9:00am
So what will be new in family law for 2012? What trend will be “in” for the year? It’s difficult to know really. After so much happened, comparatively speaking, in 2011, it is difficult to see there being any additional big moves for 2012. It is more likely to be a year of consolidation, as the management speak goes.
In 2011, we had the long-awaited Family Justice Review which arrived with an apologetic whimper, introducing the Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings ....
Thursday January 12, 2012 at 9:00am
If you’re anything like me, then the world of investments and pensions is something alien. I am ill equipped to make more than the most superficial foray into their machinations and so rely on the experts to advise me on the right moves to make, where we are at and where we are likely to end up.
This attitude could explain why, when considering a
divorce settlement, many people still don’t think of the pension pot as an asset to be divided. They are either aware it is there but....
Monday January 9, 2012 at 9:00am
Sir Paul Coleridge is something of a breath of fresh air. The senior High Court judge has again spoken out in defence of the family and about the importance of trying to keep marriages together. He is advocating a change from the “recycling attitude” to marriage, where people ditch their partners for a new one whenever they feel like it rather than trying to make it work, to help cut the numbers of children caught up in the family justice system.
He believes marriage is better th....
Thursday January 5, 2012 at 9:00am
I know Christmas is well behind us now and most of us are bravely facing the new year head on while trying not to think back on the cosy, quiet days of doing very little in December. However, there is an interesting poll I have only just picked up on that relates to Christmas but perhaps gives us some useful pointers for the year ahead that I wanted to share with you.
A poll carried out for holiday camp company Butlins revealed that nearly half of children would rather Santa brought them more ....
Monday December 19, 2011 at 9:00am
Recent figures have confirmed the mean age for divorce continues to rise. We have spoken in the past (Divorce and the over 50s) about the rising rate for those over 50, but it seems that the trend is now being observed in those over the age of 60. So “silver separations”, as they have been dubbed, are on the up – as is the number of divorces generally.
The Office of National Statistics says the number of divorces in England and Wales rose by 4.9 per cent in 2010 to 119,....
Thursday December 8, 2011 at 9:09am
I watched an interesting piece on BBC Breakfast news again this morning. The new figures for divorce are due out later and it is apparently anticipated that divorce rates will have fallen to the lowest levels since 1974.
There was a debate about the possible reasons for this – some saying that less people are getting married, or waiting until they are older to get married so they are more mature and sure that they have the right person.
Other suggestions were that in a time of econom....
Monday November 21, 2011 at 9:00am
Representing yourself in court in a family law case is looking increasingly appealing for some in the current climate. Changes in Legal Aid rules to slash eligibility for money to support divorce cases is one big reason on the face of it. Another is along similar lines but more general – in the tight economic circumstances, people simply do not believe they can afford to employ a solicitor to pursue their divorce settlement. One obvious alternative is to represent themselves in cou....
Thursday November 17, 2011 at 9:00am
Annulments must be one of the most misunderstood areas of family law in the UK, or the least understood, whichever way you want to look at it. At Woolley & Co, it is an area that consistently generates enquiries and yet, last year, we actually completed just two annulments for clients. Many of the enquiries we do get come from the Asian community.
It is wrong to think that a marriage can just be “cancelled” with an annulment soon after the nuptials have taken place simply bec....
Monday November 14, 2011 at 9:00am
There seemed to be a sudden proliferation of US TV series a few years ago based around law practices. Ally McBeal, LA Law, JAG, that sort of thing. This seems to have evolved now into more legal investigation programmes, such as CSI, NCIS, and other acronyms. Add to these very popular shows the sheer number of films that include some element of legal process, either a criminal investigation, court case or simply “cops on the edge”, and you can see there is a pretty powerful platf....
Tuesday November 8, 2011 at 2:04pm
There has been a plethora of sofa interviews and pieces in print about how frequently fathers are being denied access to their children following divorce or separation over the last week or so after the decision not to award any automatic rights to fathers following separation. Everyone seems to be jumping on the band wagon with a whole page given in this week’s Saturday Telegraph for example, to a piece by Louis de Bernieres bemoaning the sad fate of fathers only to reveal he has a shar....
Thursday October 27, 2011 at 9:00am
I blogged not long ago (Love replaces sex at top of divorce list) about research which suggested that adultery was no longer the number one cause of divorce in the UK. In 27 per cent of cases, the highest scoring answer according to the Grant Thornton survey was growing apart that ultimately led to a breakdown, overtaking infidelity in the top slot for the first time since the matrimonial survey began in 2003.
However, adultery is still one of the most common
grounds for divorce. And ....
Monday October 24, 2011 at 9:00am
I think the generally accepted wisdom, which of course is the favourite kind and has no basis whatsoever in law, is that if an individual buys a Lottery ticket and their numbers come up, their other half is entitled to half. I guess that should read that they would share their winnings but if they split up, it would be divided between them. Well, a ruling last week suggested that is not always the case – and it could send shockwaves through households across the country as long-held ....
Thursday October 20, 2011 at 9:30am
As an active collaborative lawyer I am finding myself in court less and less these days, which for me is a real bonus. This is not to say I’m not busy, but my time and energy is focused on helping clients to reach amicable solutions to their problems in a way that enables them to move forward into the next phase of their lives in a more positive and constructive way. I think this is most efficient use of all of our time and, definitely, of a client’s money. Generally speaking, it hel....
Monday October 17, 2011 at 9:30am
A little while ago a client came to me stating that he wanted a “Rottweiler” of a solicitor and I found this approach very strange indeed. As someone who was attacked when riding my bike home from work one night by a vicious Doberman (that looked like a Rottweiler) and ending up in A&E and permanently scarred, the concept of wanting to instruct someone that had the potential of causing you and your former partner pain and expense was a mystery to me. What made it even worse....
Thursday October 6, 2011 at 10:37am
I nearly choked to death on my toast this morning when I heard a debate on BBC Breakfast news about the new “Supermarket Law” companies which are likely to be spawned by the Legal Services Act (LSA) which comes into force today.
One guest was passionately arguing that it would be “dangerous” for certain types of law (family law being one specifically referred to) being dealt with over the phone, rather than face to face! Whilst dealing with clients in this way may be ....
Monday September 26, 2011 at 10:00am
I’m going to pick straight up where I left off in my last offering. In it, I was debating the pros and cons of self-help divorce websites, triggered by the launch of www.intelligentdivorce.co.uk which is designed to help divorcing couples reach agreement on the value of their assets without the need to take up additional court time. It is fair to say that my thoughts on it veered one way and then the other so I thought I would get some input from colleagues on the role they thoug....
Friday September 23, 2011 at 10:12am
I was looking this week at what I think is a pretty good new, online service for divorcing couples wanting to work to reach agreement on the value of their assets before then asking a barrister to give an opinion on whether it is likely to be accepted by the court.
However, what spoiled the experience was a careless scaremongering line that suggested that a divorce through a high street law firm “could easily reach £40,000”. On what planet? What are this “typical&rd....
Thursday September 15, 2011 at 10:00am
The likelihood of Legal Aid reform continues to be a big issue. Cuts of up to £350 million in the system would see the option of Legal Aid removed for many people in divorce proceedings, with victims in domestic abuse cases, for instance, among a very small group of people who will still be able to seek help with funding. The profession has voiced fears that the measure is being railroaded through despite strong opposition in a public consultation. The aim is to cut costs, as is the rece....
Monday September 12, 2011 at 9:45am
We often talk about children being damaged by divorce and there are many studies which suggest that children from a broken home are worse off in one way or another, whether they perform worse at school, have relationship issues of their own later in life or are more likely to get in trouble with the police. The latest one I saw last week is that children whose parents divorce or separate before they are five are more likely to be problem drinkers, so says think tank Demos.
However, is it rea....
Thursday September 8, 2011 at 9:30am
We conducted a poll among Woolley & Co lawyers a couple of years ago on what the leading causes of divorce were. Each looked at their ten most recent cases and in 43 per cent of divorces, sex was a factor, making it the most common factor in divorce by our reckoning. In most cases this was adultery, but there were a string of other entries, including unusual sexual practices, use of gay chat forums and cross dressing. Each to their own.
From my experience in the profession and speaki....
Monday September 5, 2011 at 9:45am
Mesher Orders aren’t something you hear too much about. Or at least they weren’t, but the climate is changing and talk of them is now becoming more common, even if they are not an ideal option for anyone.
Effectively in a divorce, a Mesher Order sets the date of the sale of the former marital home to when the youngest child turns 18 or finishes full time education or training. While it allows (usually) a mother and the children to continue with a settled life without being forc....
Thursday September 1, 2011 at 9:50am
I touched last week (Courts slowing the divorce process) on the court systems unwillingness to accept emailed documents and electronic payments. After finishing that blog, I felt this was worth a longer mention. It seems to me that such simple steps as these, commonplace in every other industry for years, could go some way to cutting back on the delays I was talking about – or at least avoid any additional processing delays. There is lots of talk about the Government wanting to simplif....
Tuesday August 30, 2011 at 9:50am
With all the focus on the Legal Services Act – the so called Tesco’s Law – which comes into force in October, little attention has been given to another potential innovation in the sector launched in the US recently and set to come to the UK shortly.
The snappily titled Rocket Lawyer, from the venture capital arm of Google, no less, is an “online legal document assembly service” aimed at allowing those involved in certain types of cases, including divorce, to ....
Monday August 22, 2011 at 10:00am
I have often said that use of the phrase “quickie divorce”, particularly in conjunction with celebrity splits, is misleading. There is no fast track. What I think the media are referring to are cases that are not contested so everything runs smoothly. In fact divorce takes the same amount of time for everyone (celebrities included) – roughly three to four months because certain time periods need to be observed. Or at least that was the case.
What we are seeing now is ....
Thursday August 18, 2011 at 10:00am
Making divorce resources available as widely as possible has always been something that Woolley & Co has strived to do. Our website is not only a shop window for our services in terms of informing people about what we do and giving transparent pricing, but also (we hope) a useful library of information. From articles to press releases to these blogs, providing information to help steer people through the divorce process is high on the list of priorities.
Over the past few years, ....
Thursday August 11, 2011 at 10:00am
Family law is no joking matter. By its very nature, more often than not it deals with distressed families at a difficult time. But every now and then, a situation comes along where you have to see the funny side. In this instance, it is a judge in Canada highlighting the idiocy off a couple who simply will not reach a settlement.
Faced with a feuding couple who had “been marinating in a mutual hatred so intense as to surely amount to a personality disorder requiring treatment&rdq....
Thursday August 4, 2011 at 9:50am
I left the traditional law practice where I had been working as a partner, in 1996. Why? I wanted a different way of working. I wanted to pursue a new road that I thought would help a legal firm operate more effectively as we approached the 21st Century.
Fifteen years on and I think I have achieved a certain degree of success. The practice is doing well, it remains a model different from many other firms – perhaps my biggest surprise is that a greater number of others have not yet seen....
Monday August 1, 2011 at 9:30am
There are many occasions when you might think: “Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?” Like when the manager of a football team which has just won 5-0 says: “We deserved to win”. Or when the chief executive of a car manufacturer says: “We make the best cars in the world.” They would say that.
I had the same feeling when I read comments last week that the English legal system is “superb”. Now, it is nice to get some praise for on....
Thursday July 28, 2011 at 10:00am
A fairly well-populated list of leading family law luminaries put their names to a letter published in the Times a few weeks ago discussing the proposed changes to provision of Legal Aid. I say “discussing” but in truth they were fairly scathing at how proposed reforms seem to be steamrollering through despite widespread objections expressed in response to the consultation process.
The letter expressing disappointment that the Legal Aid changes are still going through unchang....
Monday July 25, 2011 at 9:30am
It is interesting how the same issue can provoke two completely different views. Ask Murdoch and Brooks, or Cameron and Miliband for that matter. Because hacking has eclipsed almost everything else in the news for the past week, some other issues have suffered from a lack of coverage as a result. The famine in Somalia is one. The badger cull is another.
I would have expected comments by leading judge Sir Paul Coleridge to have grabbed a few more headlines (not for the first time) too, ....
Thursday July 21, 2011 at 10:00am
As the phrase goes, there is no instruction book for being a parent. There are some fairly obvious dos and don’ts but for the most part, you learn as you go along and you don’t always get it right. So I am struggling to see why those behind the Family Justice Review think that issuing a leaflet to all new parents giving them pointers on what being a parent means is a good thing. At best, it seems a little desperate to conclude from a far-reaching review of how the legal system deals ....
Monday July 18, 2011 at 10:00am
Katie Price appears to have made it very clear that she will not marry again. This revelation came on the same day as other reports which suggested she would wed Argentine lover Leandro Penna “at some point”. Not so clear then. I am less worried about clarity on her love life and future intentions though as I am with her not wanting to get married again “because it is too expensive”. I take it she is not just referring to the cost of extravagant receptions grand enough to....
Thursday June 23, 2011 at 10:00am
There is no doubt in my mind that children are the ones who need most help when it comes to divorce – and parents need to act like grown ups and play a mature role in this.
Relationship break-up is traumatic for all concerned, don’t get me wrong, and my role as a responsible family lawyer is to help guide people not just through the legal issues related to formalising a divorce, but also offer support in other ways, especially as someone to recommend other professional services. ....
Wednesday June 22, 2011 at 2:43pm
Plumber Ian Puddick has recently been in the news after he was arrested and charged with harassment of a Mr Haynes with whom Mr Puddick’s wife had an affair. He was found not guilty.
Mr Puddick set up a website, twitter account and linkedin account all designed to expose Mr Haynes as an adulterer. Interestingly Mr Puddick reconciled with his wife, but what did he really hope to achieve from his actions?
No doubt he was upset and angry, but if he thought that drawing public attention to....
Thursday June 9, 2011 at 10:00am
Malta. Holiday destination, Mediterranean island, World War II strategic stronghold, where Gladiator was filmed and Oliver Reed died. Also, the only EU country where divorce is not allowed. That could change though after a referendum at the end of May 2011 saw nearly three-quarters of the electorate vote “yes” to divorce laws being introduced. The poll was non-binding so the Government hasn’t committed to change, but Prime Minster Lawrence Gonzi conceded “now it is our du....
Thursday June 2, 2011 at 10:00am
A warning for over-enthusiastic divorce lawyers this week. Please read slowly and carefully because it’s difficult to keep up with the twists and turns on this one.
In what was billed as a test case, celebrity chef Marco Pierre-White has won a (very) public apology from his wife’s divorce lawyers. The couple are still married after rekindling their romance last Christmas following three years of bitter feuding in the divorce courts.
The multi-millionaire chef decided to sue his w....
Thursday May 26, 2011 at 10:00am
A recurring issue in these musings from me is the need for a rethink on some of the intricacies of family law. Whether it is perhaps another look at mediation, a no fault divorce or pre-nuptial and living together agreements getting full legal status, there are things I see in our daily dealings that I think could be better served by the law. So it was nice to see a High Court judge coming out and articulating why our “outdated” divorce rules had fuelled the rise in marriage breakdow....
Monday May 23, 2011 at 10:00am
Divorce and EastEnders. What a dreadful union. I am not an avid viewer of soaps and my limited knowledge of EastEnders suggests it is regarded as having a fairly depressing outlook on life with sensationalist storylines. I did then fear the worst when I heard that a divorce storyline was central to episodes last week (w/c May 16). After watching Tuesday’s episode when Ian and Jane “fight it out” at the divorce court, I had my head in my hands, not simply because of the rather d....
Thursday May 19, 2011 at 10:00am
Divorce is rarely funny, so I think it is a real testament to our British sense of humour that we can find things to laugh about in separation. These days, you are as likely to hear a comedian joke about pre-nups or division of assets as tell tales about the mother in law. Listening to The Unbelievable Truth on Radio 4 the other day really brought this home to me. The popular show, chaired by David Mitchell, sees panellists competing against each other, talking on a specific subject and trying t....
Monday May 9, 2011 at 10:09am
How do you keep a relationship exciting and fulfilling? If I could answer that question, I would be very comfortably off indeed and probably writing this on my own island, sipping a glass of wine from my own French vineyard. I don’t know how many times I have spoken to a man or woman going through a divorce who can’t really put their finger on what is wrong, just that they don’t want to be with their other half any more. They struggle to come up with issues to include in the di....
Thursday May 5, 2011 at 10:00am
A month on from April 6 and I’m sure you all felt the disturbance in The Force as the new Family Procedure Rules came into effect. No? These are the guidelines that it is hoped will see thousands more divorcing couples trying the mediation route to reach a settlement rather than simply assuming they will see each other in court to thrash out the details of their split. Still a bit vague? You won’t be the only one. There is a suggestion that, though well intentioned, the changes may h....
Monday May 2, 2011 at 10:00am
It is no secret that fewer people are getting married. In 2009, the latest (provisional) figures available (again statisticians, why the delay?) 231, 490 couples said “I do”, the lowest since 1895. To put it another way, 8.4 people per 1,000 in 2009 compared to 8.7 in 2008. Neither is it a secret that the divorce rate is high in the UK – but falling. There were 113,949 divorces in 2009 (again, the latest stats they have) with 10.5 people per 1,000 of the married population fili....
Thursday April 28, 2011 at 10:00am
Students, bless them, have been in the news more than normal over the last few months over tuition fees. Universities will be able to charge up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees to balance a cut in funding announced in the Government spending review last year. The maximum had previously been capped at £3,290. This will inevitably further impoverish the lowly student and do nothing to dispel the caricature of the dishevelled under-graduate in second hand clothes, paying for a loaf of b....
Tuesday April 19, 2011 at 10:00am
RSPCA launched a campaign last week called PetRetreat. It’s a fostering service for pets effectively. A network of fosterers can look after a person’s cats, dogs or whatever, so that they can escape domestic violence. Once they are settled in a new life, they can claim back their pet.
The move came because some victims of domestic violence feel trapped in their situation because they don’t want to leave – leaving the animals behind. Because they have nowhere to take the....
Thursday April 14, 2011 at 10:00am
The bumper Easter holiday bonanza is almost upon us. Easter plus royal wedding equals fewer days at work (hurrah!), so more time to enjoy with your extended family (…). Perhaps not cheers from all quarters on that one. In fact, not everyone is cheering the extra day off either. Small businesses are complaining it will cost them a fortune. One Warwickshire entrepreneur I spoke to, thought the Royal Wedding would cost him about £40,000 in payments to staff for an extra day off and in ....
Thursday April 7, 2011 at 10:00am
I have to admit to feeling a certain warmth when I heard the news the other day that grandparents might finally get some rights to see their grandchildren if their own children get a divorce or separation. This is a topic we have touched upon many times before and one where we are often called upon to provide advice. Grandparents can play a very important role in the life of young children. Increasingly in this day and age, this can be as a carer while parents are at work, but also in terms of t....
Thursday March 24, 2011 at 10:00am
Interesting news from the South by Southwest festival of film, music and technology in Texas last week – SXSW to those in the know, I’m told. This is a globally renowned get together showcasing the latest advancements in technology, attracting some of the electronic industry’s leading figures to discuss where we are and where we are, or should be going, in the future in terms of development. So it is quite telling that a few words spoken by Google Vice president Marisa Mayer am....
Tuesday March 22, 2011 at 10:00am
I’m picking up on a theme from last week again if I may. It is a topic that is here to stay and, as April 6 looms ever closer, the more we can understand about the impact of the New Family Law Procedure Rules 2010, the better. I think people do have a perception that the law is, more often than not, black and white. Guilty/not guilty. Divorced/married. It follows therefore that lawyers should all be very clear on what the rules are and how they should be applied. But when changes are intro....
Thursday March 3, 2011 at 10:00am
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show the divorce rate in England and Wales is at its lowest rate since 1974. In 2009, there were a total of 113,949, a decrease of 6.4 per cent since 2008. Impressively, that is the sixth annual fall in a row.
Apart from the more troubling peripheral questions this raises for me, like why are statisticians always so slow (2009 latest figures when we’re now well into 2011?), I did ask myself why this might be.
Well, one simple contri....
Tuesday March 1, 2011 at 10:00am
Mixed feeling this week about the news that more couples are to be told to try mediation before going to the courts to settle their divorce details.
Issues like the division of assets are better dealt with through couples agreeing to speak to trained mediators to thrash out a deal rather than using up costly court time. From April, couples who are in dispute about their matrimonial finances will be pushed towards mediation.
Now on the one hand, I would agree that a lot of unnecessary court....
Thursday February 24, 2011 at 10:00am
“A man left disabled after a road crash could be forced to sell his home after a judge ordered him to hand more than half his compensation payout to his ex-wife.”
This intro from a story in the Daily Mail last week is the type of thing that makes me angry. Not the fault of the Mail (on this occasion!) but more the original decision of a judge which sends the wrong message and puts family law in a bad light. Divorce and divorce lawyers don’t need any help, generally speaking, ....
Tuesday February 22, 2011 at 1:40pm
Egypt has hardly been out of the news in the UK for the past few weeks. The country steeped in history is rarely front and centre on the six or ten o’clock news but we have been treated repeatedly to scenes of huge crowds in the centre of Cairo. At first they were calling for disliked president Hosni Mubarak to go. Now, they are congregating to celebrate him going.
I always find it fascinating to watch these historic events unfolding abroad. And I never cease to be amazed how they al....
Tuesday February 8, 2011 at 10:00am
I find myself in the difficult position of being positive about a piece of coverage in the news about Katie Price and Alex Reid’s divorce. Well, perhaps it’s not so much the coverage. As I may have hinted at in the past, I would be quite happy if the glamour model formerly known as Jordan was never pictured in the paper again, either with our without one of her estranged partners. It was more the message that came through from a clutch of stories last week that I thought highligh....
Thursday February 3, 2011 at 10:00am
As
family law specialists, we would always advise clients involved in divorce proceedings to keep a level head, look for a fair settlement and to secure a Clean Break Order to draw a line under the settlement once and for all. In short, be sensible, fair and final.
If an individual really does not agree with a settlement, there are routes available to challenge it, but this can be costly and draw out a painful process even longer. However, there are cases where this appears to be the only ....
Tuesday February 1, 2011 at 10:00am
People do seem to be getting up-tight about litigants in person all of a sudden.
A litigant in person is an individual not represented in court by a solicitor or barrister. In effect, they represent themselves, though they may often be advised by a third party, like a McKenzie friend to help them prepare and lead them through the proceedings. This route can also be used alongside the services of a solicitor.
The prediction is that more and more people will be representing themselves in c....
Thursday January 27, 2011 at 10:00am
I caught sight of a piece on divorce in, of all places the Farmers Guardian. What’s more its a piece about Collaborative divorce. And I think it makes some good points.
Specifically, the piece looks at how a collaborative approach to divorce can be particularly beneficial to couples on a working farm, when they both have a vested interest in keeping the business running while going through difficult times personally. The collaborative approach can help diffuse situations and deal with ....
Tuesday January 25, 2011 at 10:00am
I can’t help wondering if there was more to the now former Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson stepping down than meets the eye. The official reason was the classic “personal reasons” and to spend more time with his family at a difficult time. Rumours abound as I write this that it has to do with his wife Laura allegedly having a relationship with a police protection officer assigned to her and her high profile husband. Scotland Yard’s standards watchdog is looking into this....
Thursday January 20, 2011 at 10:00am
When it comes down to it, I believe divorce comes down to two things. Between newspapers, television, magazines, the Government, friends, family and particularly law firms, the amount of time dedicated to talking about different aspects of divorce and relationships breakdown can make it all seem pretty confusing. This does not help someone who is in an unhappy relationship and trying to make an informed decision on the best way forward. Feeling intimidated by the process and all the different ....
Monday January 17, 2011 at 2:11pm
I sometimes forget how large our family law website is and how difficult it can be to navigate around for the first time user. We work hard to try and improve that but at the end of the day we’ve just got so much to offer!
So, just in case you’ve missed them, here are the top 5 FREE resources in terms of popularity:
1. Surviving Family Conflict and Divorce Book
First published in 2007 and already into a second reprint, this book was written with contributions from our team ....
Thursday January 13, 2011 at 10:00am
Relationships can fail for a huge number of reasons, anything from “we’ve grown apart” to horrific reports of spousal abuse. However, we do see some recurring themes on specific issues. Woolley & Co did its own survey a couple of years ago and found that sex was cited in nearly half (43%) of all divorces as a contributing factor. This week, a new poll suggested finance was the issue that was the biggest problem. It suggested Brits were twice as likely to end a relationship ....
Tuesday January 11, 2011 at 10:00am
I won't keep you many minutes. I am very much in demand now as a seer and wise man. There may even be a TV special with Derren Brown in the future. Can’t see it (clearly) though. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but no sooner had I written my blog last week about the New Year predictions/resolutions/wish list than one of the items appeared to come true. Within hours of me suggesting that a great thing to happen in 2011 would be for prenuptial agreements to get long-overdue legal ba....
Thursday January 6, 2011 at 11:13am
There is some debate over exactly when D-Day – or Divorce Day – falls. Some suggest it is the first working day back after new year, which would have made it January 4 2011. Others suggest it is in the second full week after new year, when people have had time to think about their decision in the cold light of day, find an appropriate family lawyer and decide that they cannot go on as things are. It could be that the whole first week is seen in some quarters as some sort of National ....
Tuesday January 4, 2011 at 11:03am
It’s scary how fast the festive season is over and done with. The build up is like some sort of tinsel-draped, glittery marathon, full of jingling bells and far from silent nights. It was made perhaps a little more so this year thanks to the weather. I did find it quite amusing that the white Christmas we had all been dreaming of for so long turned nightmare for many as it brought disruptions to travel, deliveries and parties. Maybe next year people won’t be carolling so loudly for....
Wednesday December 29, 2010 at 10:00am
Car insurance can be a pain. More often than not, when the renewal notice drops through the door, it’s gone up from last time.
In years gone by, the car, your house and your house contents were all you really needed to worry about insuring. These days however, there are policies for everything - the dog, the sofa, your teeth, credit cards, your wedding. In that kind of company, divorce insurance doesn’t seem so strange maybe.
Divorce insurance, of course, started in the USA but....
Wednesday December 22, 2010 at 4:45pm
It’s not often I am shocked but this week there was an exception. A colleague excitedly emailed to say I was on Wikipedia. Now, I have used Wikipedia plenty of times before. I find it a very useful reference tool for everything from who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, to explanations of complicated jargon. I also know that anyone can contribute to it. I had no idea I was on it though. I am not one of those people who periodically Googles themselves to find out what is on the i....
Wednesday December 22, 2010 at 10:50am
They saved the most revealing poll of the year until almost the end. What causes the biggest family arguments at Christmas? You could have arguments over what should top the list! But the survey says it is “who has control of the remote control.” Am pretty sure this is high on the list whatever the time of year – something for life, not just for Christmas. Mums stressing over the Christmas dinner came second, while tiffs over no one helping her in the kitchen took third spot in....
Tuesday December 7, 2010 at 5:23pm
There is no escaping Christmas now. As I said last week, the Christmas tress/lights/ads/CDs/TV shows have well and truly been unwrapped by Great Britain and are here to stay – for the next few weeks at least. In previous years, Woolley & Co has tended to give advice and pointers to people about how to deal with the extra pressures this time of years brings, hopefully with the aim of ensuring a few people think twice before engaging a divorce lawyer in early January. As we all now know,....
Monday November 29, 2010 at 1:25pm
For most people, winning the Lottery is a dream. It becomes a reality for a precious few. One of those was Nigel Page who picked up £56 million on the Euromillions draw earlier this year. Can you imagine how much something like that would change your life?
However, the dream was tainted when his ex-wife, who left him ten years ago for another man, tried to claim as much as £8 million of his win for herself. It was reported last week that he reached an out-of-court settlement for ....
Thursday November 18, 2010 at 8:28am
I was always a sceptic about couples counselling. After all, you can’t manufacture love. You can’t ‘talk’ it into existence if it has been extinguished. Isn’t it better to simply accept that love is gone?
But dealing day in, day out with people whose loves have been trampled by anger, humiliated by betrayal, frozen by grief and withered by neglect, it is clear than love never really is extinguished. It remains, squashed, around the edges, sometimes transformed into....
Monday November 15, 2010 at 1:28pm
Regular readers of this Blog will by now know that I tend to get quite worked up about celebrity divorce and also the phrase "quickie divorce". When they are together that is almost too much for me!
Celebrity divorce annoys me mainly due to its constant presence in the media and the fact that it is so easy for a belief to grow up that the legal aspects of such a
financial settlement are relevant to the lives of the rest of us--they are not. It is just a question of exactly how many &p....
Monday November 15, 2010 at 12:33pm
There are many great resources out there to help people going though – or thinking about – a life-changing relationship break-up. With so many things to consider, from where you are going to live, to what happens to the children, to how will the finances and possessions be split, my belief is that the more support people can get, the better. That’s why we have produced a number of handy reference books for people on divorce, including Surviving Family Conflict and Divorce and E....
Friday November 12, 2010 at 11:52am
Often, being involved in someone’s divorce (from a legal point of view of course) is a little like having a window into someone else’s world. It can seem like you are intruding on the most personal details of their life sometimes, but for most of the time it's more a feeling of being able to do something to help, guide people through difficult times and watch as they become more confident and get back on track.
Solicitors are perhaps in a unique position with this so when we decide....
Monday November 8, 2010 at 3:11pm
Cat litter trays and Neil Diamond CDs, dog-eared paperbacks and screwdrivers. So often these are what a marriage can come down to – or a divorce, to be more accurate. Haggling over who gets final custody of items with little intrinsic value when a couple decide to go their separate ways is often what drags out a divorce. I wouldn’t want to put a figure on how much extra each year this costs UK couples in fees, but it’s A LOT.
A survey out this week revealed, none too surprisi....
Wednesday November 3, 2010 at 2:31pm
I was enjoying a good debate with a friend the other day on the reasons why people marry. Initially it came from the story behind the blog last week about the heterosexual couple who want a civil partnership instead of a marriage but cannot because they are not a same sex couple. That got us onto talking about the reason people get married. Of course, I said, it’s for love, security and to show commitment. He agreed but cited a number of other reasons, and among the more cynical ones (for ....
Thursday October 28, 2010 at 9:03pm
Or should it be civilianise me”? Or “be civil to me”? Whatever the right proposal may be, it certainly doesn’t have the same ring (no pun intended) as “Will you marry me?” What am I rambling about? A heterosexual couple are launching a legal bid to become civil partners. Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle don’t want to get married but hey want their union to be formally recognised in the eyes of the law. The problem with the law at the moment is that civil ....
Wednesday October 27, 2010 at 2:39pm
Comedy stars Dawn French and Lenny Henry have been granted a divorce on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour", various media outlets have reported this week. Of course, all stories I have seen talk about the mythical “quickie” divorce as usual. I don’t think anyone wants to listen when we tell them that it simply doesn’t exist. Is there another way we can manage this message? Instead of fighting to get all people to use the right terminology, should we ins....
Friday October 22, 2010 at 6:08am
The debate on the Family Justice Review is hotting up – but it is still leaving thousands of people feeling cold, including me, because of just how far we still have to go before any real prospect of changes. In a debate this week, family law expert Baroness Deech again struck out, calling the current system "out of date" and "out of step" with the rest of the EU, arguing its shortfalls are leading to high litigation costs and have a negative impact on families. "T....
Wednesday October 20, 2010 at 3:45pm
It has been a phenomenon that we have definitely seen at Woolley & Co but I have wondered what is behind it. There are more over-50s, an age group perhaps we would expect to be less comfortable with divorce if only for historical reasons when it was less commonplace, filing for divorce.
Now a survey by older persons’ organisation Saga has looked into why this might be happening, with some interesting results.
Figures show that 28 per cent said they divorced because their partner w....
Wednesday October 13, 2010 at 10:15am
There has been a rise in interest in the media in the last week or so about the role mediation plays – or can play – in divorce proceedings. This is because of the countdown to the publication of the Family Justice Review, something billed as a far-reaching analysis of how the courts deal with families. Initial findings of the Family Justice Review Panel are due to be published “soon” though don’t expect any definite recommendations until this time next year. The re....
Tuesday October 12, 2010 at 2:57pm
In a Blog back in August, I discussed the outline of a letter I'd sent to Nick Clegg who'd invited views on the divorce process. I am pleased to say that he wrote a pleasant letter in reply and although I can't quote this from it, I also understand that significant changes are afoot.
I think these are relevant and important issues for us all to expect:
it may well be that not only will we be able to help our clients avoid having to give
grounds for divorce, we will go beyond what people re....
Monday October 11, 2010 at 12:11pm
I took a test this week and found it asked some tough questions of me. This was not an academic test. I’ve had enough of those in my life and thankfully I can say that the bulk of those are well behind me now. Now I think about it, test is too strong a word. It was just a simple assessment of the way I deal with things. Here’s a taste: • Do you have a tendency to criticise others? • Do you keep things bottled up and then eventually explode at tiny irritation? • Do you ....
Wednesday October 6, 2010 at 9:20pm
I listened with interest to a debate on You and Yours on Radio 4 on Tuesday about divorce and separation. The wide-ranging item ably covered a full deck of topics, from children's rights and a review of the current guidelines by Sir Nicholas Wall, to collaborative law and mediation. It is rare for a subject so obviously close to my heart to get so much air time so I have to give a hearty thanks to Radio 4 for highlighting such a swathe of issues. It was obviously promoted by comments made ....
Monday October 4, 2010 at 9:05am
I hoped beyond hope it had now died away the remainder of the wrangling over the high-profile divorce of Katie Price and Peter Andre would be settled with dignity behind closed doors. However, I read in reports today that the estranged couple will face each other in court this week when details of their marriage and reasons behind the split will be laid bare. Each has lined up friends and family members as witnesses to back their cases. In a writ, Andre claims damages for comments made in a maga....
Wednesday September 29, 2010 at 6:31pm
Divorce is not good and not a nice thing. In an ideal world it wouldn’t be necessary and I would have to embark on a different career. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if it meant that all relationships were loving and happy and all children grew up in a nurturing environment with two caring parents. Sadly though we know we do not live in a Disney land and the reality is that divorce is commonplace. Many children cope with it incredibly well. Others struggle more but come out the other ....
Tuesday September 28, 2010 at 10:49am
It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman; going through a divorce can be extremely stressful. Most people go through a range of emotions during or even before the process has begun. There are ways in which you can help yourself to deal with these stresses and I have set out below five top tips that I feel will benefit men going through divorce. There are also ideas of what men need to consider before they start the whole divorce process: 1. Think carefully before you act I know i....
Friday September 17, 2010 at 3:18pm
I was blogging recently about collective wisdom: if it is commonly held belief then it becomes true to many people, like the myth about rights for commonlaw husbands and wives. Another related phenomenon is the wisdom of mates down the pub. This is a phrase with a slightly male slant when what I really mean is any friends, colleagues or acquaintances of both sexes who give someone the benefit of their knowledge and experience as it relates to a specific case. It is amazing how much of an influen....
Thursday September 16, 2010 at 9:41am
For years and years when we have talked about marriage and couples and bringing up the children, the assumption – to a large extent correctly – has been that it is the woman sacrificing her time to stay at home with the kids. This is not a personal comment on gender roles, but merely a statement of fact. Statistically, more women stay at home with the children than men, even in the modern day when it is common for women to go back to work fairly swiftly in many cases. Could the tide ....
Tuesday September 14, 2010 at 3:54pm
When I first read this article it did strike me more as the sort of thing you would see as a storyline on Desperate Housewives as much as a real-life report. A scorned wife successfully sues their husband’s mistress for £3.75 million. In the United States of course. But then, when you think of it, in this day and age, it is perhaps surprising that it caught my eye as being something unusual. Hardly anything surprises us these days. Children divorcing parents, football stars scoring w....
Monday September 13, 2010 at 7:09pm
It is an unfortunate reality working as a
family law solicitor that we regularly come across domestic violence. Some individuals suffer in silence for years before finding a way to get away form an abusive partner. Others courageously take a stand the first time an incident happens. Every case is unique – and every one is disturbing, whether it is physical or mental abuse. Now I chose those words carefully. I didn’t want to statements about whether victims of domestic violence are ma....
Friday September 10, 2010 at 4:13pm
We are good at explaining the law to our clients. This seems especially important when dealing with child contact, residence or "custody" cases. Things are so fraught. There can be a tendency to use the children as weapons in the battle.
We do explain the emotional issues, realities and also the suggested ways of behaving that might best benefit the children. Of course, many clients either take notice or don't really need to hear much about such things as they understand them. Judges ....
Thursday September 9, 2010 at 6:17am
It’s funny how certain things, if talked about enough, become accepted as the truth. Collective wisdom dictates that something must be true because “everyone” says so. Such myths need not have any basis in reality and yet large swathes of the population believe them to be so. Most are innocuous enough. “If cows are lying down, it is going to rain.” I am not sure that many bovines have weather predicting abilities in reality. “White wine gets red wine sta....
Wednesday September 8, 2010 at 3:27pm
Another high-profile couple break-up, another deluge of incorrect headlines about quickie divorce. I’ve said it before many times so I am not going to labour the point here about Cheryl and Ashley Cole but there is no such thing. Celebrities have to wait the same time as everyone else etc etc. How do we educate the media on this important family law issue? Would it change anything if we did spell it out and they did listen? I doubt it. “Quickie divorce” is a snappy headli....
Wednesday September 8, 2010 at 10:56am
A Twitter contact of mine came up with a beautifully simple solution to the age old problem of how parents continue parenting when a relationship breaks down: a Children Contract. This would be a document filled with parents’ goals, pledges and aspirations for children, useful during a relationship but invaluable during separation. How helpful would it be to make this at a time when parents can easily acknowledge what the other parent can offer their children, be open about where parenting....
Tuesday August 31, 2010 at 4:21pm
I’d like to think that the announcement last week that Tiger Woods and estranged wife Elin Nordegren have divorced would bring to an end the carnival that has surrounded the pair ever since the bizarre incident that saw him crash his car outside their home in November last year. I fear it won’t though and the whole sorry episode, in my opinion, has been a disaster, not just for the couple, but also for the image of pre-nuptial agreements. A joint statement confirmed the divorce has b....
Saturday August 28, 2010 at 3:13pm
Divorce doesn’t have to be expensive. When I first started on this “divorce doesn’t have to be…” track a few weeks ago, I mentioned the fact that the cost of ending a marriage does not need to be excessive. Some people still cite cost as a reason not to get divorced, which is just madness. If a person is desperately unhappy, in an abusive relationship or does not believe a relationship can be saved, money should not be a barrier to them changing their life for the ....
Friday August 27, 2010 at 6:44am
I blogged last year about an ongoing divorce case involving two brothers who had used what they considered to be damning financial documents from their brother-in-law’s computer to help in their sister’s divorce case. They claimed the documents, held on a computer, showed the estranged husband was not giving full financial disclosure and had “hidden” assets.At that time, the case was ongoing. It has now moved on and the ruling is in. And the landmark decision from t....
Monday August 23, 2010 at 5:13pm
The States has to be applauded for moves to take the blame out of divorce. It will never work though. Blame starts in a divorce long before you get to the nuts and bolts of how the divorce process works. A rule change is unlikely to change that. A law package of bills was signed last week, including one that makes New York one of the last states to allow couple sot dissolve marriages by mutual consent. The no-fault divorce bill allows a couple to dissolve the marriage by mutual consent and witho....
Tuesday August 17, 2010 at 3:35am
Civil partnerships have become part of our culture now and are a long overdue recognition of loving relationships between same sex couples. It seems ridiculous that, for so long, gay couples could not show their commitment to each other in the same way that heterosexual couples could, or enjoy the same legal standing as what some might call more conventional unions. There are still a few oddities around civil partnerships though that set them apart so that many people will not recognise them in ....
Sunday August 15, 2010 at 6:51pm
Technology is a wonderful thing. I have said this many times before. It is something most people cannot do without these days, from mobile phones, to handheld computers, laptops, sat-navs, streaming videos and internet calls. As a business it is an invaluable tool. Woolley & Co was built on the use of emerging communications technology to better stay in contact with clients, improve transparency with pricing on our website and services sold directly from there, and speed the sending of vital....
Tuesday August 10, 2010 at 9:19pm
I was horrified to read in the news this week of the three young children found dead at their house “with suspicious injuries”. Eight-year-old twins Augustino and Gianluca Riggi and their sister, Cecilia, five, were found at the Edinburgh townhouse after emergency services were called to reports of a possible gas explosion. Their mother, Theresa Riggi, 46, was taken to hospital after being found on the ground outside the flat, having apparently jumped from a second floor balcony. The....
Friday August 6, 2010 at 2:51pm
Thousands of people will be heading to churches, marquees, hotels – as well as woods, stone circles, town halls and beaches most likely – this weekend to celebrate someone’s happy day. Whether it is their own, family, friends, colleagues or distantly known acquaintances looking to make up the numbers, any given Saturday in August is likely to be immortalised for a host of people. You could be forgiven for asking the question why though. There seems to be a sudden glut of weddin....
Wednesday August 4, 2010 at 9:32am
Some of the things I say don’t make me popular with my peers. Sometimes I think I only get away with them because I am, in seniority if nothing else, in charge at Woolley & Co and often speak at Law Society events on innovation. Sometimes it seems that some people can hesitantly nod in agreement while what they’re really thinking is: “What on earth is he saying?” I head up a
family law firm but I think divorce is bad and should be avoided wherever possible. ....
Friday July 30, 2010 at 9:22pm
OK, you have the pension CETV and are persuaded it is the appropriate valuation to use. Like my last Blog on CETVs, this article is mainly for lawyers from other firms who do not specialise in family law and who need some basic guidance on this complex area. If you are not a lawyer, this article on pensions and divorce is likely to be more helpful. The next step is to consider what % of the pension rights should go to whom. It is not an easy question!I suppose it might be assumed that the obviou....
Friday July 30, 2010 at 2:54pm
I’m a big fan of the Vicar of Dibley. Shame they’re not making any new ones now. Funny, gentle, inoffensive – bit like the impression I have of its writer and star Dawn French, though I have never met her. Over the years, I have also liked a lot of what Lenny Henry has done – though I think perhaps he peaked too early with Tiswas in the late 1970s. For years, these two modern-day pillars of British comedy were pillars of a modern-day family – married, apparently hap....
Monday July 26, 2010 at 7:58pm
Obviously, in a divorce case where the pension is seen as relevant (and, to my mind, that is almost always) a valuation would be needed. But then there is a need to properly understand the valuation!
I pause at this point to say that this article is mainly for lawyers from other firms who do not specialise in family law and who need guidance on this complex area. If you are not a lawyer, this article on pensions and divorce is likely to be more helpful. Of course, the prescribed ....
Monday July 26, 2010 at 4:20pm
Some people wait for years. For others, they leap into it with both feet after having only known their soon-to-be other half for a short while. I’d never thought there was any prescription for when was the right time to take the plunge, pop the question and walk up the aisle. It seems I was wrong. Psychologist and relationship manager Dr Pam Spurr believes she has identified a “golden window” of opportunity for couples to get married. Miss the window by going too soon, and you ....
Friday July 23, 2010 at 10:02pm
Divorce can be very taxing Surprisingly to many people, there are actually quite a few tax implications of the ending of a marriage or civil partnership. Many are also surprised to hear that, for income tax purposes, the relevant tax year of change is the year in which the people separated and not when the actual divorce went through. A ”snapshot” of some of the issues would include:
Any tax credits sorted out during the marriage or civil partnership need to be reassessed ....
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....
Friday July 16, 2010 at 10:05am
We British aren’t very good at negotiating. This is a generalisation but also a generally held belief. Just look at the Money Supermarket ad running on television at the moment with comedian Omid Djalili mocking the English inability to haggle. Many a true word…. Negotiating can save a fortune if you just have the cheek to make an offer. Divorce is not necessarily different. Going to a
divorce solicitor does not necessarily mean going to court. Many couples going through a divorce d....
Wednesday July 14, 2010 at 11:05am
A fellow blogger made the interesting point recently that “a divorce is just like a wedding, only more honest”. Does that then mean that lawyers should be viewed in a better light than ministers?! No, I doubt it either. It does make you think though. Should the (traditional, stereotypical) wedding vows be amended to read “love, honour, obey and be honest”? Individuals do get swept up in the whole romance of getting married. For some – and I am not saying it is a hug....
Friday July 9, 2010 at 5:04pm
Money is the root of all evil, the saying goes. Some might say that is an over-statement. Many would not. However, when it comes to divorce, sorting out the finances can bring out the very worst in people, making an already tricky situation highly volatile. A financial settlement needs to take into account many different aspects, including any property, possessions, back accounts, savings, stocks and shares, and pensions. Also, any business interests may need to be included. Just putting a value....
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....
Monday July 5, 2010 at 5:48pm
Many individuals who have to concede possessions or property to a partner when they split up do so grudgingly. No matter how good spirited most people are, anxious to do the right thing and ensure their former partner and children are provided for, I suspect there is almost always a little clenching of teeth to some degree or other. It might be a share in a house, or car, or part of a pension pot. So spare a thought for Dmitry Rybolovlev. The 43-year-old Russian oligarch is reportedly facing a d....
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 21, 2010 at 11:14am
We often talk of people being affected by divorce, but now there’s a warning that we can be infected by it as well! It’s not about physical health, or catching something truly nasty, though there is ample evidence to suggest people can be made physically ill when a difficult divorce takes its toll. What we are being told is that, socially, having close friends or family divorce can rub off on you. A study by boffins at the University of California, in San Diego, has apparently reveal....
Thursday June 17, 2010 at 8:25am
You never see Brazil doing it. Or the Germans. Or the Italians. But England? The minute our highly-paid superstars pull on the three lions shirt and have the eyes of the world on them on the football pitch, they demonstrate just how prone they are to shooting themselves in the foot. Often their own feet are the only thing they seem capable of hitting when they shoot. I’m not a huge football fan and yet I was starting to get swept along with the optimism that another World Cup campaig....
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....
Tuesday June 1, 2010 at 11:15am
Reports bounced around over the last few days use the phrase quickie divorce again. Regular readers will know this is a pet hate of mine. The media and the wider public at large just don’t get it. For the, record, one last time, and with feeling – there is no such thing as a quickie divorce, no matter how famous you are or how much money you have. The so called quickie is simply a divorce that starts straight away and is not contested so the paperwork speeds through. It will still ta....
Friday May 28, 2010 at 4:10pm
It is often the little things that can bring situations to a head. Admittedly, sometimes it’s the equivalent of invading Poland that sets in motion a chain of events, but more often than not it is the clothes left on the floor, toothpaste squeezed around the sink or the toilet seat up. So this is a warning to couples ahead of the World Cup: don’t let football be the decisive penalty in an emotional shootout. Divorce lawyers – me not included – are rubbing their hands at t....
Tuesday May 25, 2010 at 4:21pm
Our long-awaited Diary of a Divorce blog is now live. The episodic diary will follow a Woolley & Co client as she goes through the process of getting a divorce from her estranged husband. The idea is not just to demonstrate the course that needs to be charted and the professional services that may be needed along the way, but also gives an insight into the swiftly changing emotions someone goes through. Follow the diary here and please do add your comments as we are hoping it will develop in....
Saturday May 22, 2010 at 9:00am
There are lots of reasons to get married of course, mostly emotional or even spiritual. I have some vague memories of law school when it used to be a reason to get married to get a significant tax allowance.
But romance has hit the heights again in the Inland Revenue and marriage can save significant amounts of inheritance tax. How romantic is that?! It applies to civil partnerships and married couples. It is worth considering especially if you are of a certain age.
The Direct Gov website....
Friday May 21, 2010 at 5:14pm
Those researchers have been at it again. Finally they claim to have discovered the secret to a happy marriage. And is it down to the man – being miserable. How this works in civil partnerships, I don’t know but for your average married couple, they are less likely to divorce if the man of the house doesn’t enjoy himself too much. You can add in your own jokes here about lives being made a misery and grumpy old men, but the study looked at tens of thousands of couples in Britain....
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....
Thursday May 20, 2010 at 4:55pm
A new study by the LSE shows that men who do little housework are in very much greater danger of divorce.
Is this stating the obvious? I read in comment in The Times online that people thought it was. It does look obvious. But isn't there a very big difference between knowing the obvious and doing something about it? I do wonder if the housework is sort of incidental, it could be anything that shows the female partner that she is valued, being noticed and thought about perhaps? I say this....
Friday May 14, 2010 at 10:43am
Choosing a family lawyer can be a daunting task. Before you reach for the Yellow Pages, here are a few tips to ensure that you find the best lawyer for you and your family. Do you like them? Most
family lawyers are happy to have a short consultation with you free of charge. All should at least offer a telephone chat so you can get an idea of the type of person you will be dealing with. You will need to work closely with your family lawyer, trust his or her judgement and guidance at times of deep....
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 9:35am
It is unfortunate that the divorce process is so heavily process driven. Like most things linked to the law, there is protocol to be followed, records to be kept, applications to be filed and papers to be served. Sometimes it can seem a bit like letter-writing tennis as representatives for the two camps exchange views and crawl slowly towards agreement – or at least a position that both can live with going forward. When I established Woolley & Co in 1996, I wanted to do what I could to....
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....
Wednesday April 21, 2010 at 3:48pm
There is one ground for dissolution of a civil partnership: the partnership has irretrievably broken down. To establish irretrievable breakdown the court has to be satisfied on one of the four facts laid down in CPA 2004: •the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respondent •the parties have lived apart for a continuous period of at least two years and the respondent consents to a dissolution order being made •the ....
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....
Wednesday April 7, 2010 at 3:04pm
In the old days, when I started off as a specialist divorce lawyer, everybody knew where they stood when they wanted a divorce.
1. They went to a solicitor2. They had to go to Court about the divorce itself let alone the financial divorce settlement
Mind you, they didn't know how much it would cost! And the going to Court is the really expensive bit. Happily things are now different, except for the cost of Court. But almost all of our clients are helped by us to avoid a physical Court app....
Wednesday April 7, 2010 at 11:12am
You would think that 25 years is a long enough time to settle all the arrangements surrounding a divorce wouldn’t you? After all, that is significantly longer than the original marriage is likely to have lasted and an awful lot of water will have passed under the bridge in a quarter of a century. One couple in the news last week though demonstrated that they couldn’t quite put the past behind them and were facing each other across a court room. Perhaps not for the first time. Philipp....
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 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....
Tuesday February 23, 2010 at 3:14pm
The rate of divorce has gone down and is presently at its lowest for many years. That is well known and well publicised. But, we have been busier than ever and have recruited 5 specialist divocre lawyers in the last 10 months. How can this be?
Well, anecdotal evidence from an increasing number of our lawyers finds that Courts have suddenly started to reject divorce requests (under the procdure known as the "Special Procedure") when for many years they would have passed those same requ....
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 ....
Monday February 22, 2010 at 9:38am
"In the west, adultery isn't punished by stoning. Instead, the press will kick you until you beg for forgiveness."
The Guardian report makes an interesting point, with the above headline.
Our media appears to be nothing short of delighted when a "celebrity" transgresses what the media decides is the law of morality that should apply. Take the examples of:
John Terry: it appears there was a clear apologyTiger Woods: a public (why public?) apologyVernon Kay (who is he, by th....
Wednesday February 17, 2010 at 1:30pm
We’ve already covered the falling divorce rates so I won’t plough over old ground completely but I was interested to read Resolution’s response to the news that marriage rates are at their lowest since records began in 1862. The provisional marriage rate for men in 2008 was 21.8 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, compared with 22.4 in 2007 and 31.1 in 1998, according to the Office of National Statistics. The provisional marriage rate for women in 2008 ....
Monday February 15, 2010 at 1:50pm
A recent study has shown that, apparently, 41% of people would prefer to be without their spouse for a week than be without their internet connection for a week. Blimey!
1 in 5 said they'd be more upset if they lost their laptop than if they lost their partner! It seems that of the above 41%, 57% would find it very hard to be without Facebook and Twitter. (I declare an interest here as Woolley & Co have our own quite significant sections on Facebook and Twitter!)
Personally, I would 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 11, 2010 at 2:54pm
The Times reports that some very large law firms are considering introducing more flexible working. Blimey--progress!
All our (specialist divorce lawyers) people have worked flexibly and at home since 1996 when this firm was started. It works. It has no connection with part time working, I assure you! Indeed it allows the 2+ hours often wasted on the commute to be useful--that may be usefully working or usefully resting or usefully in relationships. Good lawyers (good professionals) ....
Wednesday February 10, 2010 at 1:20pm
Sixty-three per cent of people are in favour of making video wills, according to research from a group of charities which wants to encourage more open discussion about what happens to a person’s assets after they have passed away. Wills are still a hush-hush subject. Many people still don’t put pen to paper and it causes endless problems, sometimes even causing family break-ups, so anything which can encourage people to sort out their legacy is something I would welcome. We encourage....
Monday February 8, 2010 at 11:25am
"You are a lawyer, a woman and have a family — and the big firms cannot tempt you with a partnership" says an influential article in The Times.
It is sad to see that we ("we" as in mainly male run law firms) have still failed to change our systems to allow 50% of lawyers to join us fully. I have to say, though, that at Woolley & Co we can hardly be accused of that; indeed the opposite is the case.
We don’t have partners as such but we do have: &h....
Friday February 5, 2010 at 5:17pm
“The difference between divorce and
legal separation is that a legal separation gives a husband time to hide his money.”
This is a quote from a celebrity. As my views on "celebrity divorces" are clear, I am not going to increase their "celebrity" by naming them! But they might have a point.
Legal separation is simple, you just separate. There is no illegal separation as such. But most people would sensibly have a separation agreement to set out who pays what and....
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....
Wednesday February 3, 2010 at 7:37pm
Reconciliation is always on the mind of
divorce solicitors. If our client is the person starting off the divorce it won't surprise you to learn that they tend to be disinterested! But we will discuss it.
Of course the person starting has often had weeks, months and maybe years to come to the decision. The other spouse has often had a few days! It does surprise me how often people try to pressure that spouse into making decisions whilst still in shock. Dangerous stuff in my view--for them, their....
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....
Friday January 29, 2010 at 2:59pm
The Independent has published some stats which cover the period of the recession. They include a continued reduction in the rate of divorces. That is not our experience here, but I do feel more and more general law firms are realising they should not be dealing with at least some of the more complex aspects of divorce.
Certainly we are experiencing very high enquiries about how to divorce, are in the process of taking on 2 more divorce lawyers and still have legal jobs available!
But, the sta....
Friday January 29, 2010 at 9:48am
Having been a divorce lawyer for well over 20 years, I have heard of some very short marriages. For example, not lasting out the honeymoon. But I read of a marriage in France (and I stress a completely genuine marriage) which lasted up to the 10 minute mark! There is, I suppose, an amusing aspect to this but isn't it a depressing comment on the way society behaves?
The Mail reported that the "happy" couple argued on the steps of the Town Hall and that was that. Apparently th....
Thursday January 28, 2010 at 10:28am
The Forced Marriage Act was passed by this government. Did they mean it or not? The principal aim of the Act is to prevent forced marriages from taking place and stop attempts to force a party into marriage. If the marriage has already taken place there are additional powers to protect the victim and enable the party to move away from the relationship. There seems little point in making a law on the one hand and on the other taking away much of the main parts of support to those who might wish t....
Wednesday January 27, 2010 at 7:52pm
"Ditch the bitch" and "All men are bastards" were apparently divorce poster campaigns on behalf of a London family law firm. They were placed, sensibly you might think, in female and male toilets respectively.
I don't know how well they worked, but they certainly got the firm involved a lot of publicity including in the national newspapers. Personally, I am wholly against that sort of approach. Not that of seeking PR through use of innovative and maybe risky adverts but the ....
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.....
Friday January 22, 2010 at 9:50am
The Telegraph reports that there may well soon be a £100million divorce settlement. I don't know if the wife involved is sad or relieved about the actual breakup but, ignoring emotions for a moment, many ordinary people might think "not bad for 6 years of marriage".
There are, though, some interesting issues in the case. They signed a prenuptial agreement before marriage which would have restricted the settlement. She does not propose to keep to it. It will be interesting to see....
Thursday January 21, 2010 at 8:21pm
I read in The Times that politicians propose to require all divorcing couples to go to mediation. Madness.
The fashionable view amongst politicians (think back to all previous policies like this--are they not later proved to be totally wrong?) is that mediation is good and any other way of resolving disputes upon divorce is bad. They think there are too many Court cases.
I believe they have got it badly wrong for these reasons:
forcing people to mediate is not a good start to mediation!
....
Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 6:17pm
Divorce is --for sure--not funny whatsoever if it is yours. But like all aspects of life, there can be some amusing aspects and events. (Common use of words like a "quickie" in connection with "divorce" is surely asking for at least a snigger?)But are we playing with fire, as genuinely caring and wanting to be seen as caring divorce lawyers, to contribute to a section on the Divorce Myths website called "the lighter side of divorce"? I'd value your co....
Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 3:09am
How to divorce quickly, is often a concern for many of our clients. The so called "quickie divorce" often mentioned in newspaper reports about how celebrities get a divorce, is really just a urban myth. You don't get a divorce more quickly just by paying more or being well known! (Although I do hear that some really cheap divorce providers can sometimes cause a "slowy divorce").
But there are things that will mean that your divorce can go through more quickly. These are....
Tuesday January 19, 2010 at 3:02pm
“I never signed any divorce papers!” was the cry of Archie Mitchell’s first wife, back in the Queen Vic, hoping to inherit all his money as a result. But her plan was foiled, as she was informed that her signature wasn’t required – she had been divorced on the grounds of desertion. Two years’ desertion is one of the five reasons for which a divorce may be brought under English law. However, a straw poll of the 17 family solicitors at Woolley & Co shows tha....
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....
Tuesday January 5, 2010 at 8:54am
D Day has come to mean something different from the traditional understanding. Instead of the anniversary of a war-winning invasion in June each year, the first working day of January when we draw a line under the holiday celebrations is now “officially” known as D Day – or divorce day. More people begin divorce proceedings on this day than any other. Research has shown this to be the case, and it is a sad fact. At Woolley & Co, we had around 50 per cent more enquiries by m....
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....
Thursday November 12, 2009 at 10:03am
I read in one of our more popular newspapers last week of the British couple who divorced at the age of 98. They are apparently the world’s oldest recorded couple to divorce. For most this would be shocking news. Why divorce at such a late stage in life; what would be the point in putting yourself through the stress and upheaval at their age? However, for me whose grandparents separated in their 70’s after 50 years plus of marriage this is not so unheard of. The couple in question Mr....
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 23, 2009 at 10:29am
Myth: If my partner behaves badly or “messes around”, this will affect the outcome of our divorce.
Reality: Let's get the wording safely understood, first! A "divorce", in law, means just the ending of the marriage legally and does not include any issues of money, house, or financial settlement. The bad behaviour might be part of the grounds for divorce mentioned, by way of "unreasonable behaviour". But in terms of the finances, it is very unlikely that the beha....
Thursday October 15, 2009 at 2:34pm
I read a serious discussion article today in The Times that says men are 7 times more likely than women to leave their spouse when that spouse becomes seriously ill.
I am shocked. Of course, it's always easy to say "I wouldn't" before experiencing the horrors of that sort of situation but I think men should remember the phrase "for better for poorer, in sickness and in health".
But what is the divorce law view of that? Could he divorce her?
Grounds for divorce include unre....
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....
Wednesday October 7, 2009 at 11:27am
Perhaps one of the most complicated aspects of many
divorce settlements is the treatment of the pensions accrured by one of both parties. With the pension pot often forming the second largest capital asset in most marriages there can be significant sums at stake.
Our new book - Exploring the Myths about Divorce and Separation - tackles a number of the most common myths including the things like the proportion of a pension that each party is entitled to. It's a myth for example that ....
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....
Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 2:28pm
Stop sleeping together seems to be the advice from Dr Stanley who set up one of the first sleep study laboratories and is based at the University of Surrey!
He told the British Science Festival that sleeping together seemd to worsen a night of sleep and that if one partner awakes there is a 50% chance the other will, too. Sleep, he says, is a crucial part of staying healthy and often ignored.
Well, he knows about this much better than I do! But we do often have clients seeking a divorce on the....
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....
Thursday August 20, 2009 at 6:37am
Michael Winner, a friend of John Cleese, is reported to have said that if anybody marries Cleese's recent ex-wife they had "better have a prenuptial agreement".
(Actually, with her divorce settlement it is she who needs a really good prenuptial agreement!)
I expect this is based on the reports that she has obtained a massive financial settlement from him which obliges him to pay millions up front to her plus keep working sufficiently to pay her £600,000 per year until he is 72.....
Wednesday August 19, 2009 at 9:03am
Many of our clients, who come to us to get a divorce, often question what the attraction was for them towards their spouse in the first place.
But I read (in the Telegraph no less!) that Amy Wolfe of Pennsylvania intends to marry a fairground ride manufactured by the Weber company. She will change her name to Weber after the ceremony. Apparently she was "instantly attracted to him sexually and mentally". She sleeps with "his" spare nuts and bolts to help her feel closer.
I ....
Saturday August 8, 2009 at 5:09pm
Wrong. To get a legal Islamic divorce if you are in the UK you need to go through a UK Court divorce. If not, you will be regarded in the UK as still married and thus committing an offence by remarrying.
Of course, you will also need to have the divorce granted by the Islamic religion to be able to have a Muslim marriage again.
Andrew Woolley and Shahzea TahirDivorce Solicitors....
Monday August 3, 2009 at 10:50pm
I am re-reading Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. It has a lot of sense in it but one thing I'd missed before caught my eye. He says that he views "love" as a verb. Do it, just do it. Then the feeling will follow. He thinks this is especially useful in a relationship where one party says "I have just fallen out of love".
Do feelings follow the actions?
Andrew WoolleyDivorce Solicitor
....
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....
Friday July 31, 2009 at 6:54am
You are in the middle of a difficult financial divorce settlement. Your spouse is being either very slow or very unreasonable and it seems that he/she may well be hiding some financial info. When in the former home you do one of these things: ...have "just a quick look" at their emails on their PC ...grab a letter from their lawyers addressed to themOr maybe you just receive a bank or accountant letter at your address meant for them. It sheds light on the situation. It is hard to fail ....
Thursday July 30, 2009 at 6:43am
During a divorce case, there will normally be at least a discussion about the financial divorce settlement figures. (The system calls this "ancillary relief"). Within this a Form E is completed and one issue within it is to complete a list of what needs to be spent on a monthly basis or what a person actually needs and would like to pay out if they could get the maintenance from the other to do so.
As in all areas of divorce law, it is important to be realistic. Claiming maintenance f....
Tuesday July 28, 2009 at 4:53pm
A study by Chicago University finds that “divorced or widowed people have 20 per cent more chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer than married people, and also suffer more mobility problems such as having trouble climbing stairs and walking”. Apparently it is much worse if the person does not remarry. It seems that we start off with an allowance of health and can lose chunks of it due to certain events, divorce being a particularly impactful one. This sh....
Friday July 24, 2009 at 7:33am
We reported in our Newsletter for Professionals that a study by Grant Thonton suggests that money worries in the recession will help cut the divorce rate.Really?I don't think so. It will stop some people from starting a divorce just at the moment if they, as some do believe me, carefully calculate the best moment to pursue a financial and divorce settlement from their spouse. That is not normally when the economy is poor, their pension is down and the value of their assets reduced. But money wor....
Thursday July 23, 2009 at 7:10am
Politicians, some lawyers and many other people (not normally those who have recently divorced) bemoan that getting a divorce has been made too easy. Incidentally, that seems to ignore the appalling emotional and practical difficulties; I am sure nobody divorces for fun. But is can be easy, even for experienced divorce solicitors, to forget that people of some religious faiths have complicated issues to consider quite apart from the ending of the civil contract. I can certainly recall when someo....
Wednesday July 22, 2009 at 10:01am
Impotence is apparently grounds for divorce in 23 US States. But presumably not in the others---ladies be careful which US State you marry and live in!
But, of course, it is a very serious and upsetting affliction. What is the position in the UK?There is no ground for divorce specified as impotence. Some women believe that impotence is unreasonable behaviour. I can see what they mean but of course it isn't. An existing problem concealed before marriage would be, as it is the concealing that is ....
Wednesday July 22, 2009 at 7:27am
The Conservatives think-tank has suggested various things, that they believe may halt the decline in marriage and slow the divorce rate. Some of them are very sensible such as pre-marriage counselling. But they have also suggested tax relief for marrying. Imagine: “Darling will you marry me?” “Oh, I’m not sure” “Go on. I’ll get tax relief” Oh, please! Will tax relief really cause more people to marry, who wouldn’t otherwise?
Surely the mone....
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....
Saturday July 18, 2009 at 7:42am
OK, I don't expect you to agree. Nor do I, actually. But the Justice Committee of the House of Commons report was looking at the rates paid to lawyers who handle publicly funded (used to be called "legal aid") family law work where the fees are way too low to, in general, attract the specialist divorce solicitors. I suppose this is the legal version of the loss of NHS dentists.
Now, we don't deal with legal aid cases and never have, mainly because our expertise is in answering q....
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.....
Friday July 17, 2009 at 7:38am
I read on a Web Forum that "Divorce lawyers in England feed on a diet of champagne and lobsters and can even afford mistresses". Admittedly, it was the Sun Online forum!I feel I need to rapidly confirm that I do not "enjoy" any of those things!
But I think I get the point. How can we keep the divorce costs as low as sensibly possible? These are some top tips:
Cost of divorce
Understanding the cost of divorce
Tips for controlling the costs of your divorce
It pay....
Thursday July 16, 2009 at 7:57am
"I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get divorced, I keep the house".
I should stress that this is a quote from Zsa Zsa Gabor! But, who does normally keep the house?
Sorry, but I'm going to have to say that it depends. It depends upon all the facts, history of the financial side of the marriage, children and needs as does all aspects of a divorce settlement. But if you have main care of the children, a career path clearly affected by that, you've been married some years and yo....
Wednesday July 15, 2009 at 8:42am
Divorce solicitors are often asked "does it matter if she divorces me or I divorce her?" or "I need to rush to get my divorce petition in first".It doesn't matter, not legally anyway except in extreme circumstances. But that doesn't mean of course that it does not matter. If it matters to you, a lot, that you divorce your spouse then it is an important issue for you and to do so may help your healing process. But let's be clear. These days the Courts are not really interested....
Tuesday July 14, 2009 at 8:14am
No. You have to be married for at least 1 year until you can start divorce proceedings. There is no way around it.
As soon as you have been married for 1 year, then you can start divorce proceedings and issue a divorce petition. These are the reasons for divorce that you can choose from (known as the divorce grounds).
But if you have been married less than 1 year and want to take action, what can you do then? These are 2 of the possible alternatives:
Nullity. This is not commonly available bu....
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,....
Monday July 13, 2009 at 8:37am
Nikkah is a Muslim marriage and talaq is a Muslim or Islamic divorce. Why are they relevant to UK based divorce lawyers?Divorce Solicitors in England, especially those like us who deal with a lot of expat and international divorce, are increasingly asked if a divorce abroad or indeed a marriage abroad are "legal" in the UK.The relevance of a marriage abroad being legal here is, perhaps obviously, a very important issue if one of the people involved wants to remarry here.....
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....
Saturday July 11, 2009 at 8:39am
Divorce causes many unpleasant effects, to say the least. Ask anybody how easy it is to adjust emotionally after a divorce and financially after a divorce settlement.But a study reported in the British Medical Journal suggests that divorce (and still being alone some years later in later life) can increase the risk of Alzheimers quite significantly. So, watch out as you get older!
Now, I am sure there was something else I was going to say........
But another study strongly suggests that ....
Friday July 10, 2009 at 1:11pm
There were 32,900 petitions filed for divorce in the first quarter of 2009, a similar number to that in the first quarter of 2008. The number of decrees absolute granted fell to 28,800 in the first quarter of 2009 from the 32,200 in the first quarter of 2008.
Why is that?It sounds odd, doesn't it for there to be less absolutes than petitions for divorce (requests for a divorce)? But it is due to the delay between the request and the absolute. More here. This means that the decree absolute numbe....
Friday July 10, 2009 at 8:26am
There is no such thing as no fault divorce in this country. To get a divorce you have to set out at least 1 of 5 grounds of divorce and then in some of them go into a little detail about, for example, the behaviour of the other person.But, is there no fault divorce by the backdoor? By the way I don't think anybody really thinks there isn't any "fault" when there is a divorce just that the phrase suggests there should be no need to rake it all up.
Time for the system to be honest. I th....
Thursday July 9, 2009 at 8:08am
Divorce is tough enough without unnecessary delay. I think the failure or refusal of many lawyers and many Courts to use email causes huge amounts of that delay.Just think; a letter takes what......3 days if you're lucky to get from the mouth of the creator of it to the recipient. (Dictation, waiting for typist, waiting for signature, ooops just missed the post, delivered 1 or 2 days later). An email takes seconds.
I pause just to make it clear that any divorce will take weeks due to....
Wednesday July 8, 2009 at 7:07am
When you attend a wedding, can you help yourself from wondering if this couple will make it? Maybe it is my sad legacy from being a divorce solicitor for over 25 years! But do you, too, smile when all the time you are thinking "No chance with her / him". Well I will try to redress the balance with what follows. There are, Time Magazine reports, various things that can improve your chances. A snapshot: Age No real surprise but over 25 is best. Note no difference really betwee....
Tuesday July 7, 2009 at 8:14am
Conveyancers, many of them solicitors, are just not doing their jobs well enough it seems to me. I have lost count of the amount of times clients tell me that when they bought their house there was no discussion at all about how to own it and in what shares.If married, it dosn't matter much normally because the Courts usually ignore whose name the house is in especially after a few years marriage, when sorting out a divorce settlement.
But for unmarried couples it can be very serious indeed. Ta....
Monday July 6, 2009 at 7:54am
Personally, I'd only want to predict if I would divorce, if the answer were to be "no"! But from my 25 years as a divorce lawyer I do know that many people would indeed like to predict this, especially those going into a second or third (or more) marriage.
Well, there is a high rate of divorce anyway. There is argument about how to calculate it but let's say it is about 40%. Not a good start! Experts then say these are some of the major risk factors:
Neuroticism (Kelly & Conley, ....
Sunday July 5, 2009 at 1:38am
"My divorce came to me as a complete surprise. That's what happens when you haven't been home in 18 years". LEE TREVINO
Well, OK, maybe he can have a joke about his own divorce and I do see the funny side, but there are many people who find the fact that they are about to be divorced, a complete shock. They "didn't see it coming". That rather goes against the common idea that people argue more and more and then decide to get a divorce. It often isn't like that.
Was ....
Saturday July 4, 2009 at 8:06am
"Divorce papers" is a phrase often asked about. But what are they, as they are not a phrase used by the legal system?
They will either be the papers received at the start of the divorce, called the divorce petition or the paper received at the end (the one needed to show the final legal and of the marriage and to allow a remarriage) called the decree absolute.
Come to think of it, "divorce petition" is an odd phrase these days isn't it, being signed only by t....
Friday July 3, 2009 at 3:29pm
What has a prenuptial agreement got to do with Paul McCartney?
Well, I bet he wished he had one when he got into his major divorce settlement case with Heather Mills. She didn't end up doing all that well but he had a very unpleasant time of things. In the last few days a case, discussed here says we are at the point when the Courts will always follow a prenup unless there is a good reason not to do so.
The Press has been looking at this in different ways.
....
Friday July 3, 2009 at 2:32pm
Senior judges rewrote the divorce laws yesterday to give resounding backing to prenuptial agreements. The Court of Appeal ruled that the assets of Katrin Radmacher – a paper industry heiress said to be worth £100 million – should be protected from her French ex-husband because of the prenuptial contract they signed before they married. The judgement should hearten people who have tried to safeguard their assets with written agreements. Previously Judges had regarded prenuptial ....
Friday July 3, 2009 at 8:26am
An amicable divorce is the obvious aim of everybody.
Wrong. It certainly isn't!
Many divorce solicitors are used to helping people through (especially the initial) explosions of anger, fear and shock. For some people the whole idea is to wound and to hurt the other. We always advise strongly against this. Unpleasantness costs a lot, I mean a lot! Not just in terms of the increased cost of divorce but, perhaps more importantly, in the emotional costs to all concerned.This is a link to a si....
Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 8:14am
I have talked before about Jordan and Peter Andre supposedly divorcing, it seems. Today I read the monumentally newsworthy story that she has had the tattoo "Peter" crossed out on her arm. I've had enough. The stories about celebrities may sell newspapers but their divorces are of no real relevance to the normal person. And do the celebrities actually, really, care? The cases themselves have huge amounts involved and as we are well aware at Woolley & Co, high net worth divorce....
Tuesday June 23, 2009 at 4:50pm
Adultery is still one of the most often given reasons for a divorce, although it is often surely the case that the marriage had at least partially broken down before that happened? Adultery used to be the main (and close to the only) ground for a divorce in the past. Not much evidence was needed only 60 years or so ago. This might be because Judges and lawyers were too embarrassed to ask that awful question of a lady, "have you had sexual intercourse with a man other than your husband durin....
Thursday June 18, 2009 at 8:05pm
The Times reported yesterday that Mr Justice Coleridge (who dealt with the divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills) considers that the "cancerous" ruination of marriages is soon going to have an effect “as marked and as destructive as the effects of global warming”. It's tempting to have the view that this is an almost hysterical view from someone who, by the nature of their job, sees divorce every day. But is he right?
I have called before for action t....
Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 8:35am
There does seem, anecdotally, to be an increase in Indian divorce in England. Bollywood divorce is relevant, did you know, to English divorce law? Traditionally, divorce was socially taboo in Indian society but the increasing prevalence of it in Bollywood is perhaps having an effect upon attitudes. Many stars are divorcing, not yet as often as in Hollywood thankfully. Getting a divorce in India is an often very slow and acrimonious procedure. It may surprise many English divorcees that English C....
Friday June 12, 2009 at 8:07am
As the headlines continue, following the announcement that Pete and Katie are getting a divorce, what the press are failing to note is how similar the issues that they face are to all those many thousands of ordinary people experiencing divorce or relationship breakdown. Of paramount importance in all situations of divorce and relationship breakdown is the welfare of the children. Katie and Pete have two children together, Junior, three and Princess, one. Pete is also step-father to Kate’s....
Saturday June 6, 2009 at 1:23pm
Gillian Hudson must be a very disappointed lady, today. She thought she had got married to Robert Leigh in January 2004. She then went through the sadness of a separation and sought a divorce. But in the High Court it was decided that in fact they never had been legally married. It seems for some reason they had agreed with the priest to leave out some of the necessary aspects such as "any just impediment" and to miss out the declaration that they be lawfully married. It seems that was....
Friday June 5, 2009 at 4:39pm
As a specialist divorce solicitor I am often appalled by how badly prepared a lot of us are for marriage; how much divorce there is and how much it can cost to sort out a divorce and financial settlement especially if the wrong attitude or approach is taken! Will you join me in a campaign to try to change this? I have pursued the issue of no fault divorce elsewhere and will continue to do so, but this is a separate issue. All couples wanting to marry should be required to enter into a seri....
Friday June 5, 2009 at 9:37am
The Validity of Talaq Divorce in the UK Family lawyers are sometimes called upon to comment on the validity of an Islamic marriage known as the Nikkah or an Islamic divorce known as Talaq. Sometimes it becomes necessary to obtain declarations of marital status, for example, where the courts declare that a marriage or divorce should or should not be legally recognised in England and Wales. Any overseas divorce obtained after 4th April 1988 is only recognised in the UK if it is valid in ....
Thursday June 4, 2009 at 10:18am
I have Blogged before about the Divorce Show. What's being billed as the country's largest event of it's kind The Divorce Show will take place at the NEC in September. The organisers say that with 140,000 divorces each year and the whole process of divorce and relationship breakdown often taking five years there is a massive demand for information and advice from divorcing couples.Have a look at the Divorce Show website here.As a divorce solicitor who is heavily involved in the Show, I ....
Thursday May 28, 2009 at 5:09pm
London, indeed England in general, has often been said to be the place where wives in particular want to get a divorce settlement if they possibly can. By the way, many people say "get their divorce" or "divorce settlement" but they really mean the financial settlement I think. Divorce is the ending of the marriage legally and financial settlement is separate, legally. But enough of the legalese! The view has long been that the English Courts are the most generous in the worl....
Thursday May 21, 2009 at 5:51am
Maybe I am too protective of our past clients? But I do worry about a recently divorced person going into a second time around relationship. Getting a divorce is tough. Going into an unwise new relationship must be devastating to emotions but also finances. Actually getting married again is often off the agenda as a matter of principle for some. Of course some divorced people simply live together (cohabit) and that is fine if the legal implications are understood. • If they both contribute ....
Wednesday May 20, 2009 at 1:20pm
Making front page news since an announcement that they are separating are Katie Price and Peter Andre. Having lived their relationship in the public eye will they now go through divorce in public too? The newspapers have already highlighted the complicated legal issues which will have to be considered as a consequence of the split. Decisions will have to be made concerning a financial settlement, with newspapers estimating their joint fortune to be in the region of £50million. It is report....
Friday May 8, 2009 at 2:24pm
What's being billed as the country's largest event of it's kind The Divorce Show will take place at the NEC in September. The organisers say that with 140,000 divorces each year and the whole process of divorce and relationship brekdown often taking five years there is a massive demand for information and advice from divorcing couples.As specialist family lawyers we are exploring opportunities to be involved with the Show as we see it as a great opportunity to reach a national audience wit....
Thursday May 7, 2009 at 2:15pm
It never ceases to amaze me how interesting the media find divorce and family law issues.Just last week tabloids and broadsheets alike were awash with stories that the wife of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is filing for divorce.When was the last time Italian politics made the papers? Apparantly it's more important for us to know about the private lives of public figures than it is to know about their policies. I don't think so.Divorce and relationship breakdown is a privat....
Monday April 6, 2009 at 10:05am
An article in the Mail Online today suggests that someone has marriage problems as it seems they feel their wife does not bother any more about their appearance. The headline is a little provocative--I hope she doesn't realise it is her husband who has written in! But we all need to take care of ourselves, don't we? It is only fair to our partners, surely? Probably a failure to do so could be regarded as unreasonable behaviour under divorce law. I know I have suddenly decided to lose 2 stone in ....
Saturday April 4, 2009 at 10:03am
The BBC has published an article by Paula Hall, a family and relationship therapist we know well here at Woolley & Co. It looks at possible ways of making the separation just that little bit easier to bear. We are not experts in that of course, but we have tried to help by publishing these articles: 6-Point Plan for an Amicable Divorce Tips for Controlling the Costs of Divorce 6 Steps to Take Before you Call a Divorce Lawyer It may help to say that the headings of our first article are these....
Monday March 30, 2009 at 11:40am
Apparently, Oxford University professor James Murray has successfully devised a calculation which will very accurately predict whether a couple who have just married will divorce or not.His study was of 700 couples and he followed up over 12 years. Astonishingly, his formula was accurate 94% of the time. Of course, though, it would automatically be correct about 50% (or more) anyway as about 50% of couples end up getting a divorce. But nevetheless the study is suprisingly impressive.It....
Saturday March 28, 2009 at 9:45am
I read today online in MSN News that: Coronation Street star Kym Marsh and former EastEnders actor Jack Ryder were granted a "quickie" divorce after she admitted committing adultery. How the phrase "quickie divorce" causes problems in the real world! It is perfectly understandable that many people want a quick divorce and keep the cost of divorce down into the bargain. Sadly, media stories such as this cause many people to believe that if you pay enough, or if your lawyer cou....
Thursday March 19, 2009 at 10:08am
Statistics show that more people separate during times of financial strain. I have posted before on the subject - Money Worries increase Divorce Rate A typical Woolley & Co client is in the higher middle income bracket and perhaps the couple have put everything into a pension and their house. Maybe they have over-stretched a little to buy the house. At the moment their capital asset values are tumbling and they are struggling, especially with the added fear of redundancy. Peop....
Sunday March 15, 2009 at 9:15am
I don't normally read the Agony Aunt sections--honestly! But a headline in the Times Online caught my eye: "My husband read my emails and accused me of infidelity" She is very clear that she has never had an affair. It is actually, quite dangerous to accuse a spouse of adultery especially when it isn't correct. Legally as well as to your ears! Grounds of divorce do include adultery (which is sexual intercourse with someone of the opposite gender) but if the other does not admit it, how....
Saturday March 14, 2009 at 8:47am
Perhaps surprisingly divorce lawyers are often asked about dating. I have no doubt that, for those who feel ready, dating would help with issues of loneliness, comfort and self esteem. So, go for it. But take care as it may be many years since you have had to remember issues such as walking home alone, watching your drink for spiking, and how to say “goodnight” and mean it (and, whether you do or not). Most people are changed by a divorce and the trauma of it. Many behave somewhat er....
Friday March 6, 2009 at 8:55am
Couples are less likely to ask how to get a divorce once their children leave home, researchers have suggested. Far from the empty nest leading to greater confrontations as some believe, many parents enjoy a new lease of life in their relationship when the children leave as they rediscover the joys of being a couple. The researchers, who studied a group of women over 18 years of their lives, found a marked increase in the happiness of their marriages after their offspring had left to stand on th....
Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 9:10am
Apparently a 68 year old American lady Linda Wolfe is on the look out for husband number 24. Understood to be the most married woman ever Linda claims men run after her and she likes being married because she gets lonely! Well all I can say is anyone considering marrying someone with a history of serial divorce should take some precautions. If you’ve got money, property, pensions or other assets to consider do think carefully about a prenuptial agreement. In fact you might think twice abou....
Monday March 2, 2009 at 12:49pm
How do I get a divorce? This is a simple guide only. You must have been married for over 1 yearYou must have grounds for divorce. They might be unreasonable behaviour or adultery for example. This is the divorce procedure. It will tell you about the divorce petition, decree nisi and decree absolute. But, before you start, make sure you understand the cost of divorce and your divorce rights. And do see a specialist family lawyer. Andrew Woolley Divorce Solicitor ....
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....
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,....
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....
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....
Tuesday January 27, 2009 at 1:52pm
It never ceases to amaze how generally sane people can really lose all sense of perspective when it comes to agreeing the finances on divorce.A US man divorcing his wife is demanding that she return the kidney he donated to her or pay him £1 million in compensation. Dr Richard Batista said he was frustrated at the slow pace of divorce negotiations with his estranged wife and so decided to go public with his claim. He said he had not only given his heart to his wife, Dawnell, but donated hi....