I remember preparing a Divorce Petition for a new client and starting to feel sad for the client. Not because their marriage has broken down. Not because they were faced with the prospect of trying to reach an agreement with their now ex-husband about arrangements for their children and long term Read more…
The marriage of Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch on 4th March 2016 certainly attracted a lot of media attention. The couple had been together for a short time before they announced their engagement. Media mogul Rupert is 84, Texan born model Jerry is 59 an age gap of 25 years. Read more…
The news on 14 October 2015 that two ex-wives had secured victory in the Supreme Court over their ex-husbands’ non-disclosure of assets should send out a strong message to divorcing spouses – if you are not honest about your financial circumstances any settlement can be set aside. The cases of Read more…
Kentucky registrar Kim Davis was jailed on 3 September 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licences as she is vigorously opposed to same sex marriage. The case has grabbed worldwide media attention and sparked controversy in the US. Ms Davis refuses to issue marriage licences as same sex marriage is against Read more…
The revelation that Canada based internet site Ashley Madison has been the victim of hackers has been the subject of widespread media attention. The site, whose strapline reads “Life is Short. Have an Affair”, is aimed at “attached” people wanting to have liaisons – the nature of which can be Read more…
The Supreme Court is in the second day of hearing cases brought by Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil in which the court has to decide whether lying to a court in divorce proceedings about your financial circumstances, should automatically result in any financial settlement reached being reopened. It may come Read more…
Old Mutual Wealth has highlighted a potential, unintended consequence of the recent changes to Pension rules. Around 20 years ago Pension Earmarking was introduced into our divorce laws. This gave the courts the power to order that a divorcee would receive a fixed percentage share of their ex spouse’s pension Read more…
It was reported in the news on 30th September 2014 that 180 divorces obtained by Italian nationals in the English Courts had been declared null and void. A firm based in Italy had been offering Italians a “quickie” divorce in this country to avoid having to wait the three year Read more…
Binding pre-nuptial agreements became one step closer to becoming law on 27th June 2014 when the House of Lords gave their backing to a draft bill. The current law is that pre-nuptial (also called pre-marital or pre-civil partnership) agreements are one of the factors a court takes into account when Read more…
From 10th December 2014 same sex couples in a civil partnership will be able to convert this to a marriage. This announcement from Culture and Equalities Minister Sajid Javid was made on 26th June in Pink News (www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/06/26). Marriage for same sex couples was introduced on 29th March 2014 , Read more…