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When a judge stipulates what is to happen next in a case, that is called ‘giving directions’. For example, a party may be required to make a written statement and send it to the court (‘file’ it) and to the other side (‘serve’ it) by a stated date. A party may be given permission
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The Court of Appeal heard an unusual appeal last month. A wife asked the court to overturn the decree nisi granted in the local county court to her husband based on allegations of unreasonable behaviour on her part. The wife’s legal argument was that 1) her husband had to satisfy the court that her behaviour was such
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When a child’s parents separate, the child’s grandparents can apply to the court for a contact order (that is, an order requiring the parent with whom the child is living to make the child available for contact). BUT the grandparents first have to apply to the court for permission to make an application for a
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It seems that the Legal Ombudsman prefers ‘customer’ to ‘client’. In an article in the Guardian last week he argues that ‘client’ is redolent of the patron/client relationship in Ancient Rome. I think he is wrong. First, the setup in Rome in the first century BC is unlikely to be at the forefront of most people’s thinking
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The Home Secretary is believed to be about to announce which four areas have been chosen to trial ‘Clare’s Law’, under which a woman will be able to ask the police if a new boyfriend or partner has a record of violence against women.
District Judge Paul Mildred in an article in Solicitors’ Journal reports the following from a recent ‘acknowledgment of service’ form: Question: Do you consent to a decree? Answer: Hell yes.
A client and his wife reconciled over Christmas and we’ve just got the decree nisi rescinded. I hope I never become so hard-bitten that I don’t rejoice when this happens…..
Sometimes a couple go through two marriage ceremonies, for example the first on a beach somewhere exotic and the second back in England. It can become important to know which of the two ceremonies actually created the marriage, and in the event of a divorce it may even become necessary to ask the court to
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In a divorce it sometimes happens that a spouse gets to keep money or property that they have inherited. However if some of that money or property may be needed to meet the financial needs of the other spouse, it goes into the matrimonial ‘pot’. In most cases that aren’t ‘big money’ cases, an inheritance
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If you make an application to the court for a financial order or an order with regard to children, you have to demonstrate to the court either that you have tried mediation and it has not succeeded or that your case is not suitable for mediation. In either case there is a standard form which has to be signed
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