Blog
Rebuilding lives after brain injury: the role of the Court of Protection
Jemma Garside
8 January 2015
Is “move in with me” the new “marry me”? The Cohabitation Rights Bill
For decades many couples have laboured under the misapprehension that they are married at common law, a “common law wife”, despite never having donned a white dress, hired a marquee or uttered the fateful words “I do”. Many long-term cohabiting couples assume that, upon a breakdown of their relationship, they will receive similar treatment to married couples. This is a dangerous assumption for cohabiting couples to make as they currently have a very different legal status to married couples. The Cohabitation Rights Bill aims to provide basic protection for cohabitants and the Bill, if passed, will be welcome news for long-term cohabitees.
23 December 2014
Cooper-Hohn divorce ruling leaves divorce capital undimmed
There are two surprising things about the decision handed down last Friday (12 December 2014) in relation to the divorce of super-wealthy couple Chris Hohn, the London financier, and his American wife Mrs Cooper-Hohn. The first is that it took so long to see a large contested award that ran to over £100 million – indeed only two settlements in the past ten years have even come close to half that amount. Mrs Cooper-Hohn was given just over one third of their US$1.5 billion fortune five months after the divorce case was heard in the High Court this summer.
19 December 2014
Hohn divorce - 50:50 principle still up for grabs
Mrs Cooper-Hohn received 36 per cent, or about $220 million short of the prized 50:50 that many thought was in reach. We look at the outcome and compares to other cases.
20 November 2014
Progress for parents and surrogate children in the UK: Parental order time limit extended
A small step has been taken towards improving surrogacy laws for intended parents and protecting surrogate children in this country. Until recently, a six month time limit has been in place for parents to apply for a parental order in order to become the legal parents of a child in place of the surrogate mother. This requirement has long been criticised by surrogacy law specialists as there is no justification for an absolute deadline.
31 October 2014
The presumption of parental involvement and the changing attitudes to children’s care
In April this year, significant amendments were made to the family justice system. One of the major changes only came into force on 22 October and will affect separating parents going forward.
Section 11 of the Child and Families Act 2014 (the Act) now provides that, when the court makes a decision about who a child should live or spend time with, there is a presumption (unless the contrary is shown) that the involvement of both parents in the child’s life will further the child’s welfare. This has also been referred to as ‘the presumption of parental involvement’.
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