10 October 2024
Navigating grandparents’ rights on divorce or following the death of a parent
Grandparents have become increasingly involved in their grandchildren’s day to day lives over the last few decades, providing love, support, child care and a sounding board for frazzled parents. A number of studies have highlighted the benefit to children of having positive relationships with their grandparents and the importance of these connections is celebrated each year on Grandparents’ Day. However, as family dynamics shift over time, particularly following a divorce or bereavement, grandparent/grandchild relationships are often impacted.
10 June 2024
Knock knock knockin’ on hearing’s door - what happens when the press come to the family court?
Due to the nature of family law disputes, hearings in the family court often contain information which is “private”, intimate, personal, and/or sensitive. While press attendance of family court hearings has been a possibility for many years, in reality the press have tended not to take up this opportunity given the restrictive rules around publication (unless, of course, it is a high-profile person or something particularly salacious).
29 May 2024
Court as a last resort!
How you approach resolving a dispute with your ex-partner, whether regarding finances or your children, is an important first step in your case and can set the tone moving forward. Whilst previously, alternative ways of resolving disputes outside of court proceedings (now defined as non-court dispute resolution or ‘NCDR’)were always available options, under new procedure rules that have recently come intof force there is now a far greater expectation that parties should actively engage in NCDR throughout the entirety of proceedings with possible financial consequences if they do not.
11 April 2024
Pets are for life, even after divorce: solutions for pet arrangements from pet nups to mediation
Today, 11 April 2024, is National Pet Day. Most of my clients and the lawyers and experts with whom I work know far too much about my beautiful dog, Charlie and since I last wrote about him, my husband and I have added Norman to our pack. Charlie joined our family 7 years ago this month, and when we made the decision to adopt him we thought carefully, not only about how we could care for him together, but what should happen if we should both pass away or if we should separate. We had a similar chat before we brought Norman home just over two months ago.
27 March 2024
Mind your business: valuing corporate assets on divorce
With over 800,000 businesses incorporated in the UK every year, it is no surprise that business assets and in particular the disposal of business interests are often a significant issue when dividing assets between separating spouses in financial remedy proceedings. The landmark case of White v White [2000] introduced the starting point of an equal division of capital, as Lord Nicholls held: “There should be no bias in favour of the money-earner and against the home-maker and the child-carer”. However, the concept of matrimonial and non-matrimonial assets is vital in cases involving businesses, as the non-business owning spouse may have a weaker claim against the value of the business, in circumstances where the value was generated prior to the marriage or following the parties’ separation.