Family Law
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Step-families and Wills
Flexibility is often the key to a successful step-family. But how do you continue to look after all parties when you die? Having a properly drafted will allows you take account of potentially competing interests and look after all… Read More
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Custody, Residence and Child Arrangement Orders
What used to be called Custody and Access orders, which have since been termed Residence and Contact orders, will soon be replaced by Child Arrangements Orders. On 22nd April 2014, the Children and Families Act 2014 will replace the… Read More
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Is a Pre-Nuptial agreement legally binding and should I get one?
Historically, family lawyers may have answered these two questions with 'no' and then 'what's the point'? In the past few years however, case law has developed such that pre-nuptial agreements have become more enforceable, subject to… Read More
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The Rise of the Cohabiting Family
Recent figures produced by the Office for National Statistics show that in the last ten years, the number of married couples living together with dependent children has decreased, whilst the number of non-married couples living together… Read More
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Converting a Civil Partnership into a Same-Sex Marriage
The first same sex couples will be able to tie the knot on 29th March 2014 as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act comes into force. This is one of many pieces of legislation introduced by the Coalition Government which has, in the… Read More
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Mediation information and assessment meetings to become mandatory
Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings to become a mandatory requirement. Early last week, Parliament considered the Children and Families Bill. Within the Bill is a proposed change to the law concerning Family Mediation and the… Read More
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Marrying overseas
We start the New Year with England controversially opening its borders to Romanian immigrants, amidst the release of net migration figures from when the Labour Government was last in office, amounting to a population twice the size of… Read More
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Divorce Monday
The 6th January is dubbed by many divorce lawyers to be Divorce Monday and it is true that January is often the busiest month of the year for starting divorce proceedings. Twice as many divorces are filed in January than the second… Read More
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Living apart? How to make sure your children have a Merry Christmas
Christmas is just around the corner. It seems to come earlier every year which, though slightly irritating, can actually be beneficial for early planning. In circumstances where a family does not live together it is always a significant… Read More
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Safeguarding Your Wealth
Of this age group, 3 out of 5 cohabitees have divorced. There are likely to be a number of reasons for this increase in trend in divorce and cohabitation amidst the over 65s, including improvement in health for those aged 65 and over and… Read More
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Marriage Bill for same sex couples
Since 2005, same sex couples have been able to enter into civil partnerships in England and Wales. Although civil partnerships are not marriages, they do offer most of the legal benefits. There is general support for gay marriage in… Read More
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Divorcing when business interests are involved
For those who have a business interest, the Court will not accept the approach of The business is mine, it can be sold because it produces an income so let's just push it to one side and disregard it as a matrimonial asset. In most cases,… Read More