‘This year has seen momentum grow towards family law reform following a series of landmark Supreme Court decisions. Until now, this has not prompted the government to change the law, with ministers instead opting to take soundings.’
Family Law, 5th October 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘Naomi Shelton, Associate, Mills & Reeve LLP considers the news and case law relating to financial remedies and divorce during September 2018.’
Family Law Week, 2nd October 2018
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘The husband in a divorce dispute cannot pay his lawyers a pound without paying a pound to his wife’s solicitors, the High Court has ruled.’
Legal Futures, 18th September 2018
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The breakdown of a marriage is a difficult time for families. The decision to divorce is often a very painful one. Where children are involved, the effects in particular where there is ongoing conflict, can be profound.’
Ministry of Justice, 15th September 2018
Source: consult.justice.gov.uk
‘Yesterday [13 September] the Government published the first of its guidance dealing with justice matters in the event of the UK leaving the EU with “no deal” on 29 March 2019. The Ministry of Justice published a technical notice on handling civil legal cases, which includes consideration of co-operation between the UK and the EU in family matters following Brexit.’
Family Law, 14th September 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘It is official. The Justice Secretary David Gauke has now confirmed that proposals are under way to make the divorce process less confrontational.’
Family Law, 15th September 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘On 12 July the Government published its post-Chequers White Paper, The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, which sets out broad proposals for the future partnership between the UK and the 27 other EU Member States over a wide range of policy areas. This provides an opportune moment to revisit the pressing issue of what the Government should aim to achieve in the area of international family law as we leave the EU.’
Family Law, 4th September 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘The case of Owens v Owens rocked the legal world in late July, when the Supreme Court decided that Tini Owens could not divorce her husband, despite the court recognising that this could leave her “trapped in an unhappy marriage.” Her husband, Hugh John Owens, had sought to defend against Mrs Owens’ petition for divorce on the grounds that “although never emotionally intense, the marriage had been successful and that he and Mrs Owens had learnt how to “rub along”. In ruling against Mrs Owens, Lord Wilson said the decision “generates uneasy feelings” and suggested that Parliament should consider statutory change. Yet, bearing in mind that statutory change may take some time, is the right to leave an unhappy marriage not also a human right?’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 27th August 2018
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘This month thousands of people up and down the country found out whether they had done enough to get into their university of choice. After a long, hard slog involving many sacrificed weekends and evenings, Freshers’ Week will no doubt provide some much needed light relief before it’s time to do it all over again over the next three to four years.’
Family Law, 28th August 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘Plans to make it easier for divorcees to enforce financial orders of the courts in England and Wales do not go far enough to address the challenges those divorcees face in obtaining access to offshore assets of high net worth individuals.’
OUT-LAW.com, 20th August 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The Law Commission has announced that the Government has agreed to help improve financial orders enforcement following its report published in 2016. The Government has committed to bringing forward non-legislative measures in order to reform and improve the enforcement system, as well as taking time to consider further reform in the future.’
Family Law, 17th August 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘A third of divorcees lie about cheating, a partner’s unreasonable behaviour and length of separation to get their divorce through the courts, a study has found.’
Daily Telegraph, 14th August 2018
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Naomi Shelton, Associate, Mills & Reeve LLP considers the news and case law relating to financial remedies and divorce during July 2018.’
Family Law Week, 8th August 2018
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘At first glance, it might appear from the reported case of Akhter v Khan [2018] EWFC 54 that we have now finally arrived at the stage where English civil law has recognised an Islamic marriage (Nikah) which has been performed in England and Wales.’
Family Law, 7th August 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘On the 18th July, 2018, the Supreme Court determined that the Court of Appeal erred in increasing Ms Mills’ (hereafter ‘W’) periodical payments from £13,200 to £17,292 – the increase of £4,092 being the deficit in W’s ‘Needs Budget’ prepared for the substantive application to vary her periodical payments upwards; her ‘needs’ including her costs of renting a property when capital provision had been settled to meet her housing need.’
No. 5 Chambers, 24th August 2018
Source: www.no5.com
‘In Akhter v Khan [2018] EWFC 54, the couple had had a nikah ceremony in 1998 but had not registered the marriage under civil law. They had four children together. The petitioner, Nasreen Akhter, sought a divorce from Mohammed Shabaz Khan in November 2016. The husband (so called for convenience) defended the divorce on the basis that the parties had not entered a marriage valid according to English law; the wife (ditto) argued that the presumption of marriage arising out of cohabitation and reputation applied so as to validate the marriage. In the alternative, she averred that the marriage was a void marriage within section 11(a)(iii) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. There were two central questions: whether the parties were to be treated as a validly married under English law by operation of a presumption of marriage and, if not, was the marriage a void marriage susceptible to a decree of nullity.’
Law and Religion UK, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
‘In the context of Resolution’s and the Family Matters campaign for no fault divorce, I hope to offer a perspective from my work as a couple therapist to show one aspect of the emotional fall-out that I see in my consulting room from the current system of fault based divorce. In particular I shall focus on the impact of the “behaviour” petition which in the wake of the case of Owens v Owens [2018] UKSC 41 has, of course, found itself in the limelight.’
Family Law, 2nd August 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘A high court judge has decided that a couple’s Islamic marriage falls within the scope of English matrimonial law, in a ruling that could have implications for thousands of Muslims in the UK.’
The Guardian, 1st August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘One of the UK’s most famous divorce lawyers has backed a change in the law – but urged couples to be more practical about marriage.’
BBC News, 30th July 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2018