Monday January 23, 2012 at 9:00am
There’s no escaping social media these days – as you’ll know if you are reading this blog! Whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, myspace, You Tube or any number of other sites and services, it has never been easier to engage with others.
From a personal point of view, this is great for helping keep in touch with people you rarely see, keeping others posted on what you are up to, sharing good news and swapping stories. As a business tool, social sites lik....
Thursday December 22, 2011 at 9:00am
It’s a legal challenge that is not altogether unexpected but still one that I hoped I wouldn’t see. It seems 30 of the country’s largest criminal defence firms are refusing to engage with a Crown Prosecution Service plan to go paperless by April next year. And in so doing they have again highlighted just how 19th Century the thinking of some firms remains well into the 21st Century.
The target is part of a programme to computerise the criminal justice system and save £....
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....
Thursday December 8, 2011 at 9:00am
The Christmas holidays are fast approaching and for those parents who live separately, this can be an anxious time sorting out a schedule of contact for the children.
Many separated families have a structure where one parent is the main carer and the other spends their time with children at weekends and holidays. Holiday arrangements can produce a considerable amount of stress for both adults and children. This stress can be minimised though by some careful planning and by putting the chil....
Tuesday December 6, 2011 at 9:00am
During a year of ups and downs for many firms, not just in the legal sector, I am happy to report that Woolley & Co has performed well and expanded further. It leaves us in good shape for the 2012 Olympic year!
In recent months we have recruited three new
family law specialists: Ian Giddings, based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, Kate Brooks, in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and Celia Christie, in Rugby, Warwickshire. That brings our compliment to 23 (including me!) dedicated family ....
Monday November 28, 2011 at 9:00am
Technology doesn’t stand still – which makes it very difficult to keep up all of the time. However, I believe it is vitally important for a successful business in this day and age to do its best to keep on top of technology to make it as easy as possible for customers – and potential customers – to find and interact with you. This is not always obvious in the legal sector but I like to think that Woolley & Co has blazed a bit of a trail on this, and others a....
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....
Wednesday November 9, 2011 at 3:03pm
No, it’s not a bad joke – the hot off the press judgment (from 9th November 2011) from the Supreme Court in the case of Kernott v Jones means that the answer may be, umm, we’re not sure...
There has been so much debate about the vast differences in the law as it applies to couples who live together rather than get married, and this case is the latest development in a long line of cases where some of the most senior judges in the land have expressed very different views a....
Thursday October 13, 2011 at 9:00am
A new code of Conduct for law practices is now in place. Despite the rather meaningless title Outcome-Focused Regulations, I think they are good, easy to manage and full of common sense issues to help a modern practice run more professionally and thrive.
Now I am not normally backward in complaining about this profession shying away from this sort of change, so I was heartened to read a great blog on the subject in Law Society Gazette. In it, the point was made that this should not be some....
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 October 3, 2011 at 10:00am
So, this week (October 6) the much anticipated Legal Services Act (LSA) comes into force. For some, this anticipation has been spent in a state of excitement. For many, particularly in the legal sector, it has been more akin to awaiting sentencing after a guilty verdict has been returned at the end of a high profile criminal trial.
In short, the LSA will open up the legal sector allowing many other organisations, such as supermarkets and banks, to offer legal services, something they have no....
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....
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....
Thursday August 25, 2011 at 9:45am
In the charred and smoking aftermath of the worst riots this country has seen for (at least) a generation, Prime Minster David Cameron seems to have woken up to the fact that families could be at the heart of mending our “broken Britain”.
The Big Society idea first floated pre-election, and sounding good at the time has perhaps never seemed so far away, set against the backdrop of marauding packs of hooligans fighting pitched battle with the police, not in one deprived area u....
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, ....
Monday August 15, 2011 at 10:00am
Mention “five-a-day” and it is likely the first thing that springs to mind is fruit and vegetables. It is the modern day campaign/tool used by the Government to encourage people to get their fill of vitamins by having five pieces of fruit or helpings of vegetables each day. However, there is another five-a-day that is said to be gaining ministerial support and it is more about effective parenting than just kids eating their greens.
Under the scheme, parents will be given a five....
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....
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....
Thursday July 14, 2011 at 10:00am
I want to come back to an issue that I touched on last week. After mentioning it in passing, I think it deserves more of an airing. The draft Family Justice Review proposals suggest greater use of IT and technology to improve services. This is a no-brainer to me. Having founded a
family law firm working with a model of using technology to improve our service to clients, I honestly can’t see why this hasn’t been looked at before now. We live in a fast-paced society with ever increasin....
Thursday June 30, 2011 at 10:00am
Branding has never been a real issue in the legal profession. Sure, there are a number of top (usually London based) firms which are widely known in business or celebrity circles, and the top five in the so-called Magic Circle of firms. Then there are more local clutches of firms which might have a number of offices around a certain area. The name, or brand, may therefore carry some authority in that area, but further afield, the name means nothing. The advent of the so called Tesco law, which a....
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....
Monday June 20, 2011 at 10:00am
The interim report of the Family Justice Review was published a couple of months ago and has caused such a wave of interest that it seems very few people have digested its contents yet. Having been critical of the time it takes to conduct such reviews and get some constructive change to happen, I did sit down and read it all recently. As you can imagine, it is not the most riveting read though there were some fascinating insights in there. It was also interesting to see how certain important nug....
Monday June 13, 2011 at 10:00am
After years of talking about it, the Legal Services Act is upon us. Officially, it comes into force in October this year and will allow more organisations to offer legal services, something which they have not been able to do to date. It has been dubbed “Tesco law” by certain commentators convinced we will see a rush by supermarkets wanting to sell all sorts of additional services to unsuspecting shoppers. From home conveyancing to divorce, in the same way you can now pick up leaflet....
Monday May 30, 2011 at 10:00am
Stress in the workplace is a major headache for employers and employees in this day and age. It is not necessarily that things didn’t get stressful in the past but it just seems that the demands of an increasingly fast-paced life, coupled with economic (and domestic) pressures, combine to create more of a crucible than ever before. As to which profession is most stressful – what do you think? Politician? Journalist? Premier League footballer with a superinjunction? Surely the legal p....
Monday May 16, 2011 at 10:00am
Twitter has been causing a bit of a kerfuffle over the last week. Some mischief maker has taken it upon themselves to publish what they claim to be accurate details of the celebrities involved in the super-injunctions we have been hearing so much about. Effectively, this is where those in the spotlight have used European law to protect their privacy, preventing newspapers from publishing stories about alleged infidelities and other details in their personal life. There has been increasing discon....
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 March 17, 2011 at 10:00am
Ask many people what is the worst thing about the legal profession and they may well say “the jargon”. They may well say many other, less polite, things as well perhaps, but the language used in many aspects of our work lurches from arcane to ridiculous. Sensible, succinct and clear definitions can be difficult to find. However, I am hoping that a tide of change may be starting with the New Family Procedure Rules 2010 that come into force on April 6. They provide for a new code of pr....
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 ....
Tuesday January 18, 2011 at 10:00am
I seem to spend too much of my time in these blogs dwelling on divorce. Perhaps not surprising, you might think, for a managing partner in a family law firm? True. I won’t beat myself up about it. However, our outlook remains that we would prefer it if fewer relationships failed, more people stayed married and there were fewer children either splitting their time between estranged parents or not having the support of one of them at all.
I guess the accepted trend in recent years remains ....
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....
Wednesday December 15, 2010 at 4:40pm
In the build up to this year’s election, each party had something to say, to a greater or lesser extent, about family matters. For some it was at the heart of a number of manifesto points. For others, it was a footnote that had to be mentioned but was not high on their political agenda. Fast forward seven months and not a lot is any clearer. There had been talk about new benefits/tax breaks for married couples but that has gone quiet of late. We are still (yawn) waiting for the Family Just....
Friday December 10, 2010 at 11:33am
I’m not sure if I had a specific size in mind for Woolley & Co when I set sail in her 14 years ago. I am an ambitious person but I had no plan to make it the biggest firm in the world. The best, maybe, but not the biggest! We welcomed our newest
family law solicitor, Luci Larkin, this month. Including me, that means we now have a roster of 21 senior level lawyers specialising in family law. All work from home offices around the country rather than in one centralised high street office.....
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,....
Friday November 26, 2010 at 9:35am
Woolley & Co was founded 14 years ago through a desire to challenge the way law firms work. The idea was to embrace new technology, do away with expensive town centre offices and build a world class service around the needs of the customer. That meant fewer face to face meetings, emailed documents, appointments out of normal office hours, home working and transparent pricing. Our website was, and still is, the shop window for our services. Since then, the ranks of senior level lawy....
Tuesday November 23, 2010 at 9:29am
No matter how hard you might have tried over the last seven days, you will not have been able to avoid hearing that a certain high profile couple are getting married. After ten years together, with speculation of a royal wedding spanning nine-and-a-half years of that at least, Prince William and Kate Middleton announced their engagement. The simple announcement from Clarence House prompted wall-to-wall coverage on every news channel and magazine programme, newspaper and radio bulletin for severa....
Monday November 22, 2010 at 9:00am
I did a double take when I first read the story in the paper about Ed Miliband making his second son “official”. Was first born, Daniel, borrowed then, or in some way not real? What did new arrival Samuel have that his older brother didn’t?
When I got down to the details it was simply the press’s usual caring way of explaining a specific situation arising from family law, akin to the mythical “quickie” divorce that enrages me so much whenever I see it.
The....
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....
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 4:16pm
A landmark ruling this week gave pre-nuptial agreements a vote of confidence. While the agreements, drawn up by couples before marriage to set out how their assets will be divided if they should divorce, are not strictly enforceable in law, they are taken seriously by courts when a settlement is being discussed.
Their validity was thrown into doubt when French banker Nicolas Granatinio went to the High Court to overturn a pre-nuptial agreement he had signed with heiress Katrin Radmacher ....
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 8:30pm
These days it is not a question of whether or not we should embrace technological changes and emerging social but more a question of how do we keep up with the waves of changes and innovations? If we don’t keep on top of these things and make the most of the opportunities, we could be losing out and missing the whole point of getting involved in the first place. However, time devoted to keeping abreast of the latest gadgets and social networking tools can end up having a detrimental impact....
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. ....
Monday August 2, 2010 at 7:26am
Some lawyers and even some IFAs have a tendency to overlook insurance issues upon divorce in favour of considering the often more major investment and possibilities found in a pension. This can be unfortunate and there are traps for the unwary in a financial divorce settlement.
Premium payments are quite often ordered by the Court so as to maintain cover, but there are some things to watch for nevertheless:Medical insurance coverLet's say that the wife has a medical history that might lead....
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....
Monday June 14, 2010 at 2:28pm
The massive difference in how the law regards couples who live together and married couples was again highlighted by the recent case of Kernott v Jones. Most people would think it bitterly unfair that a person could walk away from the family home, leaving their partner to pay the mortgage, deal with the bills and keep on top of the maintenance and come back (in this case 17 years later!) and demand half of the house. Most people would be astonished to find that the Court would agree that the par....
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....
Wednesday May 26, 2010 at 4:33pm
When I established Woolley & Co in 1996, I wanted to create a
family law specialist that was a bit different. I wanted to break away from the traditional mould to build a firm around the needs of the customer, doing away with town centre offices and using the latest technology to interact with them and each other. That meant emailing documents and using the internet as a shop window for our services, with transparent pricing in plain English. Nearly 14 years later and few in the industry hav....
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....
Thursday May 20, 2010 at 8:40am
Toasters and crockery used to be de rigueur. Household appliances, home furnishings and honeymoons were commonplace. Nowadays though, we are told, all that has changed. A new survey for Wedding magazine has revealed that an increasing number of couples are shunning wedding lists in favour of cold, hard cash. Nearly half (45 per cent) of couples would prefer their guests to give them money, with just 29 per cent still drawing up a traditional list and just over a quarter requesting honeymoon vouc....
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, ....
Thursday April 29, 2010 at 5:33pm
Change is inevitable. Ask Gordon Brown. Change is also a good thing more often than not – though we will often suggest the opposite. Some people just won’t look at the positives sometimes though. Take the Lawyers Defence Group for example. They are calling on the Government – whoever it is currently running the country that is, as all the politicians seem to be out knocking on doors, leaving the proper work to the auto-pilot I guess – to move to protect local “High ....
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....
Tuesday April 13, 2010 at 2:02pm
Custody and access must be among the most misunderstood terms in family law – because they don’t officially exist any more. They used to of course, before the Children Act changed the terminology. But the 20th anniversary of that particular piece of legislation has been “celebrated” over the last couple of weeks and it is quite amazing that two words have stuck so strongly in the public’s consciousness, still bandied around 20 years after being replaced with “....
Wednesday April 7, 2010 at 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....
Wednesday April 7, 2010 at 8:59am
As The Guardian reported, the law has now changed to make it easier for gay couples to have chidren via the surrogacy route and be named as "parents" on the birth certificate. Indeed it will be possible, for the first time, for two men to be named as parents on the birth certificate.
Fertility law, surrogacy and same sex parenting is a complex area, albeit now somewhat simplified, but the article under the preceeding link gives an outline.
What amazes me is the reaction in the ....
Tuesday March 30, 2010 at 9:44am
“Divorce shopping” is a relatively new term to many. It relates to where a couple – or individual – looking to divorce and who can potentially do so in a number of countries, researches where they might get the best deal before starting proceedings. So if an English man is married to Spanish lady and they are living in Italy, there are at least three sets of rules they could look at to see where they will bag a bargain. Now the EU is looking to bring in new regulation to ....
Thursday March 25, 2010 at 8:11am
"Sue the bitch", might well be the understandable reaction from wives towards a mistress, especially if she targetted the well off husband for seduction as we increasingly hear of.
So far as I am aware, it isn't possible in English law to do so but it certainly is in the US where one mistress has to pay £6 million in damages to the upset wife. It appears the mistress had indeed targetted the husband. The subsequent break-up "devastated" the wife and indeed their childr....
Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 1:23pm
So often we get many firms failing to use e-mail for discussions betwen us. Presumably they prefer their communication to take 2+ days to reach us than about 2 minutes? Over the length of a divorce I think that could make about a 2 month difference. Imagine that! I cannot see any benefit to the law firms in the delay.
In fairness, those firms such as mine who try to use normal, modern communication methods are not helped by the whole system we are working within (the Court system) making next t....
Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 9:42am
There was an interesting column in the Guardian last week which has got me thinking a lot about the real reasons behind relationship break-ups. In it, columnist Zoe Williams suggests that there is no great myth behind why people – and especially celebrities – split up. This is not a creation of “Broken Britain” nor are pampered celebrities more likely to get divorced than anyone else. It is simply the case that it is normal for people to fall out and break up. Those manag....
Monday March 22, 2010 at 9:29am
We all hear, it seems daily, about yet another "celebrity divorce" or the make believe "quickie divorce" they often claim to obtain. We hear about the agonising over whether the settlement should be £200million or £300million. What a hard life and tough case that must be! Let's have a look at a more normal case, we'll call them John and Sarah and make them Mr & Mrs Middle England, perhaps our typical client. It is Sarah who comes in to see us. John (we are tol....
Friday March 19, 2010 at 3:32pm
There is a temptation for us lawyers to judge other lawyers based mainly upon their technical legal ability. “She’s a good lawyer” (or not) is often heard. What do we know? Yes, us lawyers can judge if another lawyer has excellent legal knowledge as we are qualified to know. But what is the real test of a good lawyer? What effects do we have when dealing with a divorce or other family law issue? Should it not be our clients who have the say in whether we are a good lawyer or no....
Monday March 15, 2010 at 5:11pm
Having children is not a cheap business. I don’t think many people would claim that they were left better off after their offspring were born. What is less obvious is the additional stress that having twins can bring upon a couple, as demonstrated in the results of a new study out this week showing parents who have twins, triplets or young children very close together are more likely to divorce. The University of Birmingham research team analysed the annual Family Resources Survey for 2004....
Tuesday March 9, 2010 at 4:02pm
I’ve done my best to keep my own counsel about celebrity divorce recently. It has been a struggle. As regular readers of this blog will know, in the past, I have had a bit to say about the cult of celebrity, the column inches dedicated to it and the myths perpetuated in newspapers about so called “quickie” divorces which appear to be the preserve of celebrities and are, in actual fact, nonsense. As I said, I have done my best to turn over a new leaf and live and let live. ....
Monday March 1, 2010 at 3:13pm
Another week, another politician talking about marriage. This week it was David Cameron again, restating the Tory intention to give tax breaks for married couples. The idea has been met with enthusiasm by the Roman Catholic Church, apparently, which has suggested this is a big vote winner among congregations up and down the country. Whether those congregations now have significant numbers to affect the course of a general election or not remains to be seen. The Red side of the House has suggeste....
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....
Friday February 5, 2010 at 9:42am
Over my 25 years plus dealing with divorce, there are many reasons I have heard to get a divorce but only once did I hear tax as one of them! But if you separated in this tax year and are going through a divorce do bear in mind the Capital Gains Tax situation. Of course, the 2009/2010 tax year runs until 5th April 2010, but watch out as any married couples special tax treatments end when the tax year they separated ends. So if you separated in, say, May 2009 you need to sort out your CGT situati....
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....
Wednesday December 16, 2009 at 10:18am
I was heartened this week to see a leading law figure call for the judiciary to speak out when they see something wrong with the legal system. Lord Justice Wall suggested “the time has come” to end the reluctance to speak out, but instead to do so “loud and clear”. He did though fire a warning about straying too far into politics. I fail to see what is wrongly political about senior specialists in law giving the benefit of their knowledge on how things are working –....
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....
Wednesday November 11, 2009 at 10:09am
I am sure that the parents of Baby RB, the child with the serious medical condition in the news at the moment, always felt they knew what was in Baby RB’s best interests. Baby RB’s parents have been in the heartbreaking situation where their child is in hospital with a life threatening condition. The hospital referred the issue to the High Court arguing that RB’s life should be ended with his ventilator being switched off. The Mother of the child was in support of this believin....
Thursday October 29, 2009 at 9:41pm
I spent a day at a training session for all of our divorce lawyers this week, designed by experts in their fields, to help us all better understand and support our clients. This was especially connected with the emotional issues of divorce and relationship breakdown.
Actually, quite a few of our specialist divorce lawyers have suffered a divorce themselves. We are not immune, you know!
The course led me to wonder if divorce law firms should employ counsellors to offer the more comple....
Friday October 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....
Wednesday October 14, 2009 at 2:54pm
Continuing our efforts to dispell common myths and misunderstandings about divorce and family law here's one that's relevant to all business owners and their spouses.
MYTH: If we divorce I won't be entilted to anything from my partner's business. REALITY: You quite probably are entitled to something. It may be to a share of the income it produces, but much depends upon the nature of the business. You may have helped him to set up.
You may have made a significant contribution to its success. T....
Friday October 9, 2009 at 9:04am
Family law has suddenly, it seems, attracted the attention of all the political parties!
I will not bore you with their proposals for change (frankly, they don't add up to much except a lot of words) but these are some of mine:
require couples to have a course of information and counselling before marriage (e.g. "how to argue"!)
make prenuptial agreements clearly enforceable
make the automatic rule on divorce to be 50/50 unless there is a prenuptial saying otherwise
no f....
Thursday September 24, 2009 at 1:11pm
Grandparents rights is still an issue which is causing huge upset and it is so unecessary.
The Times reported a truly sorrowful tale of a grandfather (a retired Judge as it happens) effectively being stopped from seeing his grandchildren after his son had died and also tells his opinion of what he clearly sees to be the suffering caused by the Court system. It also makes it very clear that he thinks the Children Act requirement that grandparents should have to ask for permission to apply for co....
Thursday September 17, 2009 at 12:42pm
The Government is considering forcing divorcing couples to go to mediation before being able to start divorce proceedings. Looking at that quickly, you'd think that was a very sensible suggestion. All of us would think a mediated settlement was better than one obtained from a Court. (By "better" I do not mean a higher figure but one less destructive to relationships and often much cheaper) The Times reprots that Baroness Deech, is opposed." You can't mediate with a person or coupl....
Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 10:03am
Massive divorce
financial settlements are humiliating to women, according to Baroness Deech reported in The Times! Well, are they really? If so I know a lot of women who have got over the humiliation very well. I am sure it is not the financial settlement that is humiliating, if anything it is the social engineering that even these days leaves the average woman much less better off than the average man. I am with her when she asks for the financial settlement upon divorce laws to be changed and ....
Friday September 11, 2009 at 5:23pm
There are so very many myths surrounding divorce, separation and also living together. You know the sort of thing:
"I'm not entitled to anything from his business" (true or false--click the link to find out!)
"I don't need to get married as I have the same rights as a common law wife"
"I can divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences"
There can be some humour here in some beliefs but actually these myths can cause people a lot of unneces....
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 2:22pm
This week’s government-commissioned report suggesting the privileged background of most lawyers got me thinking about our own lawyer selection policy. I think it’s fair to say I myself didn’t come from a privileged background – I certainly had a loving and supportive family but my father was a machinist in a car factory.When I look at the team of family lawyers we have I can’t really see any of those who would consider they were born with a silver spoon in their mou....
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, ....
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.
....
Wednesday July 1, 2009 at 8:55am
The Telegraph reports on a study in Australia which shows:
The research has found that men are less likely to divorce their partner if they work for between 40 to 50 hours a week. About one in five Australian workers report logging 50 hours or more a week.
I wonder if this is because one of the main underlying grounds for divorce is financial difficulty?
A divorced woman I know tells me that maybe working 50 hours + per week makes him too tired for an affair?!
Thoughts please.....what d....
Tuesday June 30, 2009 at 8:10am
There is pressure from the EU for all member states to have the same divorce laws. There is already a lot of difficulty working out which country can deal with the case which is important here as many people understandably prefer to get a UK divorce. Sensible on the face of it, given the number of marriages between people from 2 different states. But which laws? For example: Sweden: maintenance unusual Germany: capital acquired during marriage is 50/50 (Watch out successful business people or fo....
Monday June 29, 2009 at 8:13am
Divorce costs and legal fees are, understandably, a source of concern to many.Traditionally, divorce lawyers have always charged by the hour or by some other measurement of time. Should they?I think not. What has time got to do with it? Surely, the measure of how much to charge for something should be the value of that thing to the buyer. If the provider of the thing doers not like what the price would be, they don't have to provide the service, do they?
Now to reality! Clients needing a ....
Sunday June 28, 2009 at 8:42am
Soon just about anybody will be able to offer legal services and most people refer to this as Tesco Law as the supermarket is said to be likely to offer law. And why shouldn't you be able to get your divorce along with your tins of baked beans?
Many lawyers are muttering on about getting advice on LLPs, "we can compete with Tescos what do they know about law?", we will get a new website, "we're getting a marketing chap in" and other such meanderings.
Rubbish.Most law ....
Saturday June 27, 2009 at 8:28am
I’ve been in trouble in Court for having a tie of a colour the Judge did not approve. I’ve also been in trouble for telling Judges they are wrong and for refusing to stop arguing my client’s case. I’ve expected to be in very big trouble for telling a Judge he’d learn from living in the real world but he ended up being impressed and referred to me as “brave man”! I read in The Times that a judge in a criminal trial in London, during defence counsel’....
Friday June 26, 2009 at 4:03pm
I read that the FSA have decided to soon stop any financial adviser being paid by way of commission from insurance companies. Personally, I've always thought commission was fine as long as the client knew how much it was and was properly advised. Perhaps I should say that personally I have a Chartered Financial Planner who charges fees only. Fine by me. But I actually chose him as I rated him and trusted his company, Informed Choice.
Lawyers in general seem to think it is impossible to move awa....
Thursday June 25, 2009 at 3:09pm
The media can now attend and report on divorces and on divorce settlement Court cases. I have blogged before about my worries over that. I may have missed an important side effect. It seems that more and more people are so worried about Press disclosure of their personal life and financial details that they are allowing their lawyers to negotiate settlements outside Court and which are then, normally, secret. Earl Spencer seems to be the latest, as reported in The Times. That has to be good, doe....
Thursday June 18, 2009 at 7:52am
Any solicitor is allowed to advise on and deal with a divorce! It does not matter that they may never have done so before and have no good knowledge of the subject, except passing the relevant paper when they were at College of Law!
It is time to ban solicitors, indeed all lawyers and that includes Judges, from dealing with divorce unless they have special training.I think the needs are:
specialist work in the field of family law
special training in mediation
training in cli....
Monday June 8, 2009 at 9:09am
Divorce advice has many traps for the unwary.A national newspaper last week highlighted the advantages of site WikiDivorce in assuring those with questions about the legal separation process have a forum in which to ask questions. (With This Website I three divorce - The Times, June 4 ) While I do agree that sites like these and the many others can be useful as a starting point for investigations into the process, it is dangerous to suggest that they are a reliable source of information to be ac....
Friday May 22, 2009 at 8:16am
When I trained in law and qualified in the early 1980s, I was determined to help people, especially those who--to my mind--needed the most help often those with the least funds to be able to afford that help. Legal aid (i.e. government help) stepped in. It was of special use, I always felt, when say a woman had never worked after marriage and had married a business man who had done well. He ran the finances about which she knew nothing. She relied upon him and they both expected "his" ....
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 15, 2009 at 8:33am
I read that a large group of solicitors were outside the High Court in London on Tuesday handing out tins of baked beans from supermarket trolleys! It seems it was a protest against what has become known as Tesco Law. I am aware that most of my profession is very worried by Tescos being able to offer legal services soon, along with the AA, Co-Op and others. Cynics might say they are worried about their jobs and their incomes but the campaigners say they fear the standards of legal advice will dr....
Thursday May 14, 2009 at 6:25am
Getting divorced is very, very difficult. Getting married is very, very easy. Is this the right way around? We have pressed in the past for no fault divorce but I'd like to look at the other side of the equation. Maybe now is the time to require all couples wanting to marry, to go through a course equipping them for that marriage? In my view, that course should include counselling on issues such as: • what they each expect • children? • who gives up work when there are children? &....
Tuesday May 12, 2009 at 4:01pm
A German couple has just been refused permission by the Courts to have a long hyphenated surname. So what? Well, ask the footballer Shaun Wright Phillips for example. He added the name of the ex footballer (Ian) Wright to his surname when he became his stepfather which seems perfectly reasonable to me. The rights of step parents are still developing and are surely well behind the society we all live in. And many women these days do not wish to give up their name especially if they have created s....
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....
Wednesday May 6, 2009 at 2:08pm
Unlike many other law firms our team continues to grow. Just last month we were joined by three new family solicitors - Petra Salt, Kelly Glenn and Judith Buckland. All bring with them years of experience handling divorce and family law.
And we are still recruiting - all over England for divorce and family solicitors. So if you are reading this blog and know a great family lawyer get them to contact us.
Andrew WoolleyWoolley & CoFamily law specialists....
Friday March 27, 2009 at 11:31am
In the hope of reducing the fees we pay to recruiters I’m taking the direct approach in this blog. We are looking for a divorce solicitor or legal executive to join our dedicated family law firm. The candidates must have been qualified as a lawyer for at least 5 years, be experienced in all aspects of divorce and family law and have excellent client service skills. We offer lots of opportunity to take on interesting cases and a flexible approach to working to those who have experience of d....
Tuesday March 24, 2009 at 1:00pm
I’ve produced a Blog or two before about the effect of the recession on
divorce settlements - Money worries increase the divorce rate and Credit crunch causing divorce problems.In them I concentrated on either the divorce itself or the financial settlement which normally is a reference to the distribution of the investments, housing values and pensions of the couple. But of course there is also maintenance. In some cases that can be a huge monthly sum and in the case of John Cleese, i....
Wednesday March 18, 2009 at 8:47am
I was moving house. I had booked a large lorry with an electric lift at the back. I went to collect it on the day of the move and the hire people asked to see my licence. I had packed it! “You do have a licence, don’t you?” he said. “Yes, of course I do”, said I indignantly.I was asked to produce it when I brought the lorry back. Meanwhile, the boss put his own name and licence on the forms saying that he trusted me and hoped I was honest. When I went back I p....
Sunday March 15, 2009 at 7:21am
“I can’t hear you. Mr Woolley”...... ...the famously aggressive Judge shouted at the newly qualified solicitor (me back in 1981)! So, I spoke up. I should add my voice is not very quiet anyway. It seemed he was hard of hearing. He repeated himself. I shouted. He leaned forward to his Clerk and said “Tell the fool”. The Clerk explained that my tie was too colourful and the Judge was not prepared to allow lawyers to speak to him whilst wearing such ties. I borrowed a ....
Thursday March 12, 2009 at 12:04pm
The Law Society is hosting an emergency summit on 26 March 2009 to debate the proposal by justice secretary Jack Straw to open family law Courts to the general public and the media.The concern is the potential impact on children’s rights in opening up the courts to the public and the fact that press scrutiny will be applied to the most vulnerable of people in very difficult situations.Although the intention is that more openness will bring about an improvement in legal standards, there&rsq....
Saturday March 7, 2009 at 9:33am
Susan Finnamore got divorced and then wrote a book about it. Has she got a point in the title? When someone asks “How do I get a divorce?” they may well agree with her, certainly at that point. They worry about cost of divorce, their divorce rights and grounds for divorce and those are just the legal aspects of their concerns. The legal implications of marriage are often forgotten about in the romantic rush of engagement and wedding planning—and so is a prenuptial agreement.Man....
Thursday March 5, 2009 at 5:59pm
Family law jobs It shows that we are in a major recession when even the top law firms are letting hundreds of people, including lawyers, go. I read in The Times of these examples, all unthinkable about 18 months ago: • Allen & Overy removing 450 people including 47 partners and about 200 lawyers plus support staff. • City law firms offering graduates about to join them for a training contact up to £10,000 to defer their start for a year • Linklaters (second largest law f....
Tuesday March 3, 2009 at 9:40am
....says a letter to The Times today.Admittedly, the letter refers to a "child" in their late 20s but there can often be issues with step-children after a divorce.It often brings into focus step parents rights and actually what are the rights and responsibilities of step-parents?Issues of
parental responsibility are often complex and of course the law on the issue is one thing, the reality of human interaction another.And just imagine the extra complications of grandparents rights....
Thursday February 26, 2009 at 9:47am
A report due out today from Resolution (a group of family lawyers committed to promote the settling of issues in a non-confrontational and amicable manner) says that poorer couples are being denied the opportunity to choose the collaborative law process because of the lack of legal aid. Collaborative family law helps couples resolve disputes over divorce or separation through face-to-face negotiations between the parties and their lawyers. It was introduced from the US in 2003, and more than 1,2....
Saturday February 21, 2009 at 9:05am
Prenuptial agreements have always been something many later divorcing people wished they’d had—ask Paul McCartney for example. Divorce solicitors have often suggested their use.
And there was a case recently McLeod v McLeod in which the Courts had an opportunity to say they were legally binding—which had always been their “Achilles’ heel”. But the Court referred the issue back to parliament and I hope they make law in this respect.
However the Court did sa....
Friday February 13, 2009 at 5:27pm
I read in the Times that the marriage rate is at an all time low. Apparently, only one in 50 single women now marries each year, and only one in 43 single men. It seems that probably only 48% of people over 16 are married. This is no doubt a reflection of the amount of people who say I want a divorce. But also on the amount of people choosing living together, common law marriage as it is (legally incorrectly) known. I have called before for help for couples in understanding the emotional and&nbs....
Thursday February 5, 2009 at 6:14pm
I know that many people believe that speaking to or taking advice from a divorce solicitor means some form of commitment to going to Court. But it does not.
By far the majority of our clients keep well away from Court. A good specialist lawyer will be well used to negotiating and mediating a settlement. Often it can pay to choose a firm which is a member of Resolution and or who can deal with collaborative law.
The right approach can often keep people out of Court. But of course you can ....
Tuesday January 6, 2009 at 9:28am
Family law experts from Woolley & Co were in demand during December and early January in the wake of our story about staying calm over Christmas. Radio stations including BBC Wiltshire, BBC Northamptonshire, Touch FM, BBC Derby, Rugby FM, Mercia FM and Two Counties Radio called on our family lawyers to give expert opinion on how to beat festive flashpoints and discuss the surge in divorce enquiries in January. Several newspapers also covered the story. If you heard one of the progr....