Today marks the start of Good Divorce Week, an initiative to help parents adopt a child-focused approach to separation. Divorce is stressful and upsetting for everyone involved, but sometimes it’s necessary and the end result, particularly if it can be achieved amicably, is far healthier than struggling on in an Read more…
Our family law experts are welcoming news that local couples will be able to divorce without assigning blame from April 6 next year. The announcement was made in parliament yesterday and will bring to an end a long-running campaign to update UK divorce laws so they reflect modern families. Michaela Read more…
In just 20 years, the number of unmarried couples living together in the UK has doubled. Many of these cohabitees own joint property and bank accounts and the vast majority have children. Unfortunately, the odds a cohabiting relationship will break down are as high as they are for marriages or Read more…
Marriage isn’t for everyone. You may believe it is an antiquated rite of passage or perhaps you’ve been there, done that and don’t fancy wearing the t-shirt again. While society is happy for us to live as we choose, unfortunately, the law has not yet caught up. If marriage isn’t on Read more…
There are two million cohabiting couples in England and Wales and more than 64,000 live in South Yorkshire. Why am I telling you this? Because it is Cohabitation Awareness Week, a campaign supported by my family law colleagues to improve the legal rights of unmarried couples. It is not only Read more…
It is 12 years since two colleagues and I brought collaborative law to Sheffield. In 2005, I heard about an alternative family law practice that was being introduced in England, following success in Canada and North America. I attended a training course in Manchester and these two days changed my Read more…
On Valentine’s day the Court of Appeal started hearing a very unusual case as a Judge in the lower court refused to allow a wife’s unreasonable behaviour divorce petition to proceed. After a long marriage Mrs Tini Owens commenced divorce proceedings based on what she viewed as her husband Hugh’s unreasonable Read more…
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…
It is said that bad divorces never end; the conflict goes on forever and can affect families and friends – not to mention the separated couple themselves – for years to come.So surely anything that can help people achieve a more constructive separation and reduce animosity, particularly where there are Read more…
One of the things we hear a lot as lawyers when couples are divorcing is that they feel powerless, and not in control of what’s happening to them. Letting a court decide on your future is essentially handing over control to someone who doesn’t know you or your family. Using Read more…