Blog
National Fertility Awareness Week 2025 - Every Voice, Every Journey
Lydia Holland
12 September 2017
Donald Trump divorce – real or fake news when valuing a family business on divorce?
In this blog, we look at how valuations of family businesses are considered in divorce proceedings.
24 August 2017
Reconciliation Contracts – an alternative to divorce?
As I read the stop press news last week about the possibility Angelina Jolie might be pressing pause on her divorce, given Brad’s reported willingness to address his drinking problem, it got me wondering about whether they were considering a Reconciliation Contract which is a popular post-nup tool in the US.
17 May 2017
Building resilience and keeping perspective when divorcing a narcissist
Three years ago, I wrote the blog “The challenges in divorcing a narcissist” in collaboration with Dr Paul Hokemeyer. My interest was in part a reaction to my clients, who over the years often characterised their spouses as suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), and in part to help me work better with the divorce cases that I consider “the difficult ones”. Increasingly, I have since found myself representing families where the complexity is not always the resources (i.e. the wealth) or the international dimension but the people who are involved (although it is very often all three at once).
5 May 2017
Brad Pitt speaks out on addiction and divorce
At last I have something in common with Brad Pitt - both of us spent part of this week speaking about divorce and drinking. Brad Pitt stunned the critics by talking openly about the impact of his drinking on his marriage to Angelina Jolie. These very public and honest words embrace in part The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous by an admission through others of the nature of his wrongs and recognition that his life had become unmanageable.
14 March 2017
Practical tips on varying spousal maintenance – does life mean life?
After several cases suggesting a sea of change and an end to "meal tickets for life", the recent case of Mills v Mills may have stemmed the tide. Maintenance orders for life can hold uncertainties for both the payer and the recipient. If you are the payer, what does maintenance for life really mean? If you are the recipient, could your maintenance be terminated or reduced in the future? Either party could be subject to a variation order in the future. Whilst we cannot dissect the decision in Mills v Mills without the judgment, in this blog we set out key practical points that anyone facing a variation application (whether the payer or the recipient) may find helpful to consider.
