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When a couple with a child are no longer living together, the court sometimes has to decide whether one of them, usually the mother, should be allowed to move abroad taking the child with her. A recent case in the Court of Appeal placed renewed emphasis on the welfare of the child and warned that
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When a divorcing couple’s finances have to be decided by a judge (which is unusual – most couples agree on a financial settlement), the judge has various factors that he is allowed to take into account. Broadly it is up to the judge to decide which factors are relevant in a particular case and what
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If you attend a Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) appointment at the court and reach agreement on financial settlement, if the district judge approves the agreement but the drafting of the order is left until later, neither of you will be able to change your mind. The court will treat the order as having been made
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If you are the respondent in divorce proceedings (that is, it is your husband/wife who has filed a divorce petition), and you intend to defend the divorce, you have to file your Answer within 21 days of the date by which you were required to acknowledge service of the petition. If there is no overseas
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If your dispute is with the co-owner of your house or flat because your relationship has come to an end, when you come in for your free initial interview try to bring with you a copy of the document that transferred the property to you in the first place. This is likely to be Land
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If you are separating, and if it is you who are leaving the matrimonial home, give some thought to what you take with you. It is far easier to take all your personal possessions with you than to try to recover them after you have left. If you are unlucky, your spouse may treat any
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If you are separating or divorcing and your matrimonial home is owned by your spouse, you should register your ‘home rights’ at the Land Registry. Registering your home rights effectively prevents your spouse from dealing with the property (e.g. selling it or mortgaging it) without your consent. Until the introduction of civil partnerships, home rights
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The Supreme Court is currently hearing an important case which may make a difference to the law on who gets how much of the value of a jointly-owned property when an unmarried couple separate. Watch this space…
Surrogacy is not an area of family law that I deal with, but a recent news story caught my eye: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375861/Child-custody-Couple-ordered-pay-surrogate-mother-monthly-baby-wont-meet.html Two points emerge. 1. A surrogacy agreement is not a contract enforceable in the courts. 2. The child support system is inflexible to the extent that if you’re the biological father you pay maintenance
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On Wednesday 6th April there was a change in the rules that govern family law court cases such as divorce. A whole new set of rules came in to replace the existing rules. In many cases the new rule is the same as or similar to the old rule, but practitioners are having to check
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