Blog
Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
25 April 2018
Divorce and maintenance orders: Waggott v Waggott signals the end of ‘a meal ticket for life’
The Court of Appeal’s latest family judgment of Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727 (Waggott) provides another indication that the ‘meal ticket for life’ (via the joint lives maintenance order) is no longer something that wives can expect from the English courts.
20 April 2018
English Court of Appeal follows US case example in deciding earning capacity is not a matrimonial asset to be shared
London is often seen as “Divorce capital of the world“ by wealthy expats, usually the wives, wanting a generous divorce settlement, but this latest UK case shows there are limits. The English Court of Appeal issued an emphatic “No” in April 2018 to an attempt by a wife to argue that her husband’s earning capacity is capable of being a matrimonial asset, to which the sharing principle applies and in the product of which, as a result, she had a continuing entitlement to share.
11 April 2018
Russell Crowe and the divorce auction - stuff matters
Good on you Russell Crowe for tackling the issue that is often the curse of the divorce settlement....all the stuff, baggage and chattels. Admittedly, his decision post-divorce was allegedly to help finance the unhappy event but he should become a role model in this often forgotten outpost of the divorce settlement. Usually, this is the last hurdle to be faced and often the straw that breaks the negotiating camel’s back as a consequence - divorcing couples really get serious over the dinner service, the marital bed, the dog and the well, the valuable things.
29 March 2018
Top tips for “silver splitters" and those remarrying in later years
Divorce amongst the over 60s, often referred to as the “silver” or “grey” divorces, are on the increase according to recent data from the Office for National Statistic. Reasons cited for the dramatic increase in divorces later in life include longer life expectancy, greater financial independence of women, reduced stigma surrounding divorce, and greater presence of retirees on social media and online dating sites. Divorcing and remarrying later in life typically involves added legal complexities. To address some of these, Sital Fontenelle sets out some top tips and common pitfalls in this blog.
16 October 2017
Divorce in the digital age - poacher or gamekeeper?
Let’s face it, we are all amateur sleuths these days, and divorce lawyers are no exception. We use the internet to find a restaurant and a hotel. Inevitably, we also have a look at our clients or their spouses and partners at the beginning of a new case. There have been some disasters, among others an apocryphal story where a divorce lawyer with a new client took a peek at the husband on LinkedIn….and oops! - that was the first news the husband had that his wife was considering a divorce. Everybody knows that the inverted iPhone at home is the tell-tale of infidelity (it avoids the possibility of a spouse seeing the impossible to explain “see you tomorrow at the Travelodge, Big Boy” or similar).