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The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil partners. Unmarried couples...
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Divorce is seldom an easy business, but the problems are compounded when there is a family business involved. The division of the spoils has traditionally been the subject of a great deal of argument, but recent cases have at least clarified the thinking of...
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Arrangements over the custody of children (called residence arrangements by lawyers) after the breakdown of a relationship are usually best decided without the intervention of the court. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for the two parties to...
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In spite of reforms introduced in 2003, the Child Support Agency (CSA) was heavily criticised for failing to meet its objectives. With nearly £4 billion worth of unpaid child maintenance estimated to be outstanding, clearly something had to be done....
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The first Civil Partnerships were formed on 21 December 2005, after the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 came into effect on 5 December 2005. Same-sex marriages contracted abroad, however, have been recognised as valid civil partnerships from 5 December...
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One of the most common myths in English law is that there is such a thing as a ‘common law marriage’. It simply doesn’t exist and this misapprehension has led the Law Commission to suggest proposals giving additional rights to cohabiting...
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Collaborative Family Law is a non-adversarial, solution oriented process. It can assist couples to manage their divorce or separation in a dignified manner. Couples can also use the process to reach pre-nuptial, pre-civil partnership, cohabitation,...
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Approximately one in six marriages in the European Union is between persons of different nationalities. Not surprisingly, approximately one in six divorces also involves spouses of different nationalities. This can make for some complexity on divorce as to...
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When it comes to dealing with money and divorce, it is important to know what has to be taken into account and the powers available to arrive at fair decisions. For most couples, the basic problem is how to finance two separate households from income and...
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Divorce is almost never easy and the financial negotiations can be protracted and difficult, particularly when there are business interests involved. In this article we consider some of the issues surrounding divorce for company directors. In the first...
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Family break-up is always complicated and when there is a property involved, things can get very complex indeed. In principle, when a couple are cohabiting (not married or in a civil partnership) the property belongs as of right to whoever is shown on the...
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The headline-grabbing decisions in a spate of ‘rich list’ divorce cases in 2007 confirmed that the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court) is emphasising that marriage is a partnership and that the relative contributions of...
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The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil partners. Unmarried couples...
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The Nil Rate Band For 2007/2008 the nil rate band was £300,000 and this rose to £312,000 for 20/08/2009 and to £325,000 from 6 April 2009. The nil rate band (NRB) is the proportion of your estate which will not be subject to any...
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An explanation of the Legal Phrases you may Encounter Acknowledgement of service form – the form by which the respondent (or co-respondent) acknowledges having received the divorce petition. Affidavit – a formal statement sworn on oath...
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When you begin living together as a couple, without being married, it is best practice to set up a trust deed to make clear your joint wishes and intentions concerning ownership of the house you live in. Preferably, this should be in association with a...
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The 1989 Children Act aimed to clarify the law regarding who could look after children. One of the main new concepts introduced by the Act was that of ‘Parental Responsibility’ (PR). This is the legal term which emphasises that the duty to...
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More than 40 per cent of marriages end in divorce (in England and Wales more than 125,000 couples divorce annually) and when one in five of all men and women seeking to end their marriage have already been through one divorce, it is perhaps not surprising...
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Following a recent decision in the Court of Appeal, in which a pre-nuptial agreement entered into by a German heiress and her husband was held to be enforceable, wealthy families worried about preserving family assets in the event of a divorce should...
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Family Judges and Lawyers commit to take Bitterness and Cost out of Divorce 6 Years on, London Family Lawyers Celebrate the Success of Collaborative Law Keynote Address by: Lord Kerr Justice of the Supreme Court The RT Hon the Lord Kerr of...
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We often hear of children being taken into care, but the process by which this occurs is not well known. The Children Act 1989 lays down the circumstances under which it is appropriate for a child to be taken into care or a supervision order made. The...
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Does the recent financial turmoil affect your marriage or relationship? The sad answer is that it’s very likely that it does. If you are thinking of separating or are in the process of separating then in most cases the main family asset is likely to...
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Although divorce is a commonplace occurrence these days, few people going into their first divorce have much idea about how the process operates. Here is a brief guide. The process for dissolution of a civil partnership is essentially the same, as are the...
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The Court can potentially deal with: The matrimonial home and all other assets including land, contents, life policies, stocks and shares, motor vehicles, pension benefits, maintenance and in limited circumstances, maintenance for the child of the family. ...
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The Court can potentially deal with: The matrimonial home and all other assets including land, contents, life policies, stocks and shares, motor vehicles, pension benefits, maintenance and in limited circumstances, maintenance for the child of the family. ...
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