The High Court has approved a divorce settlement that shares the couple’s assets 60 – 40 in the husband’s favour, on the basis that it was a fair outcome for both husband and wife. The couple married in May 2008 and separated in June 2016. They had two children, aged nine and six. For the
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has backed government plans to introduce a no-fault divorce system and urges parents to seek legal advice at an early stage to reduce potential conflict. In a statement it said: “Early legal advice in the divorce process would be advantageous to parents to help them
We live in uncertain times. Brexit is around the corner. We don’t know what type of Brexit it will be and how it will impact on our finances. Property prices have been stagnant or even fallen in the South East over the past 12 months. There is no expectation they will recover any time soon.
A divorced husband’s sister has been held in contempt of court for failing to provide business records to his former wife. The dispute arose because following divorce proceedings, the husband was ordered to transfer to the wife his 100% shareholding in a property management company. However, he didn’t provide the necessary information to enable the
A man has been jailed for seven months for repeatedly ignoring court orders to help return three abducted children to their mother. The man was the uncle, or possibly the elder half-brother, of three children who had been unlawfully retained by their father in Nigeria in 2013. The mother began legal proceedings and the uncle
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge was wrong to order that three children abducted by their father should not be returned to their mother. The children were aged 12, 11 and 8. Since 2010, they had lived in Spain with their British parents and attended Spanish schools. In May 2017, the parents’
Campaigners have welcomed the government announcement that heterosexual couples will be allowed to enter into civil partnerships instead of getting married if that’s what they wish. Civil partnerships provide the same benefits and rights as marriage in terms of tax, inheritance and protections for each partner if the relationship breaks down. They have only been
The government is drawing up plans to end the ‘blame game’ for separating couples, which often sees one partner accusing the other of unreasonable behaviour to get a quick divorce. There are currently five reasons for being granted a divorce by the courts: adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, two years separation if both agree to the
There has been a huge rise in the number of couples citing “unreasonable behaviour” as grounds for obtaining a quick divorce. Researchers at Oxford University found that the number of divorces granted to wives because of unreasonable behaviour rose from 17% in 1971 to 51% in 2016. The increase was even sharper for husbands, rising
The government is being urged to introduce major changes to divorce laws to reduce the stress and difficulties faced by couples when their marriage breaks down. A private member’s bill put forward by Baroness Butler-Sloss proposes a system of no-fault divorce. It would be the first major change to divorce laws in England and Wales