Family, Children & Divorce

Unmarried couples who share a home should consider drawing up an agreement about how much of the property each one of them owns. Failure to do so can lead to confusion and potential hardship, as illustrated in a recent case before the Court of Appeal. It involved a woman who had lived with her abusive

A woman has lost her appeal against a judge’s decision that she and her husband should share their assets equally as part of their divorce settlement. The case involved a couple who had been married for four years and had a three-year-old daughter. They were both professionals but the wife had more earning power than

A court has ruled that a teenage girl must live with her mother in Mexico, despite her wish to stay in the UK with her father. The family had lived in England until the parents divorced. The Mexican mother then returned home and took their three children with her. Four years later the youngest daughter

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge got it wrong when calculating the divorce settlement for a woman who gave up a lucrative career to look after her children. The case of Julia Hammans will now be re-tried by another judge to ensure that she is treated fairly. The court heard that Ms

A judge’s decision to separate two teenage brothers from their mother and also from each other was based on her own personal opinion of the boys and has therefore been overturned. The residence of the brothers came into dispute ten years after the separation of their parents. They had always lived with their mother and

A man has been ordered to pay £28,500 to his former partner after he had assured her that she would have a home for life. The couple began living together in 2002. The woman had been living in a secure tenancy and had limited resources. They bought a house with the man’s capital and he

Changes have been made to the family court system with the aim of improving standards and speeding up the process. The new measures mean that only the most qualified, experienced and recognised professionals will be allowed to give evidence in family cases where children are involved. These expert witnesses can only give evidence if the

A woman whose millionaire husband lied about the extent of his wealth during their divorce has won the right to take her case to the Supreme Court. Alison Sharland was married for 17 years to Charles Sharland, the founder of AppSense, a successful software company which was valued at £47.25m at the time of the

A judge was wrong to grant permission for a mother to take her daughter abroad, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The case involved an estranged couple who had dual British and Iranian citizenship. They had a three-year-old daughter who lived with the mother. The father had unsupervised access. The mother wanted to visit Iran