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Kingsley Napley’s Medical Negligence Team ‘walks together’ with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity
Sharon Burkill
The divorce case of Young v Young has been rumbling through the courts for four years. It got going just as the financial crisis took hold in 2008/2009. Scot Young, in sunnier times, was supposed to have been worth £400 million. The couple had children together, and Michelle Young is seeking a full payout on divorce.
It was reported in the press that Richard Rodwell, who raised two children during his marriage to his ex wife, recently discovered that they were in fact the product of extra marital affairs. Following Mr and Mrs Rodwell’s divorce, he paid child maintenance for over four years until he decided to investigate rumours that the children were not his. Following DNA tests confirming that he was not the father of either of the children, Mr Rodwell made an application to the Court within civil proceedings. The Judge awarded him £25,000 in damages, treating the award as akin to a bereavement award in a fatal accident claim.
For separated or divorced families, Christmas time is often an emotionally charged time of year, fraught with practical challenges as parents try to agree contact time and arrangements for Christmas events. Claire Wood shares some tips on how best to prepare for the issues which may arise at Christmas.
Last week saw a gathering of solicitors, barristers and judges who discussed the Law Commission's consultation on non-matrimonial property and needs, or, in effect, the reform of the current law on financial relief for divorcing couples. Increasingly, the English approach has been criticised as being too uncertain and resulting in lengthy court disputes with the inevitable impact on legal costs. Adding to that, the forthcoming removal of legal aid to thousands (coming into effect in April 2013) and the inevitable increase in self-represented litigants, the speakers talked of the need for greater certainty and how this could be provided.
As Downton fans lament the end of the third series, we are left to speculate on potential plot twists for the fourth (and look forward to the inevitably eventful Christmas special). My own festive hopes, and pleas to the scriptwriters, centre on Lady Edith and the prospect of divorce reform.
Lauren Evans looks at Divorce Reforms from the era of Downton to 'no fault' divorces and considers whether we are as modern as we like to think we are?
Sharon Burkill
Natalie Cohen
Caroline Sheldon
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