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A recent decision of the Court of Appeal in a big money divorce case clarified how the sharing principle should be applied and when assets are subject to it. The couple had married in 2005. The husband had had a successful career in financial services...
While the courts have a range of powers to set aside orders, they will only exercise them in limited circumstances. In a somewhat surprising case that has attracted much comment, the High Court declined to set aside a final order of divorce that had been...
Disagreements between separating couples all too often result in litigation that substantially reduces the assets available to them, as was illustrated by a case that recently reached the High Court. At issue was whether awards made by arbitrators in...
When divorcing couples disagree on how assets should be divided, the courts will seek to arrive at a fair outcome for both parties. In deciding how the proceeds of sale of a former couple's home should be apportioned, the Family Court agreed with the wife...
In law, adopted children are regarded as having been born to their adoptive parents. The Family Division of the High Court recently considered whether that fact precluded a parental order being granted under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008...
Custodial sentences very rarely come into play in the family courts. Where there have been repeated breaches of court orders, however, judges may have little choice but to clamp down. This was illustrated in the High Court during committal proceedings that...
The issue of bigamy and its potential impact on a person's ability to seek financial remedies in a divorce came under the legal spotlight recently . A husband made an application to strike out his wife's financial remedies claim on the basis that she had...
Cross-jurisdictional disputes surrounding child custody can be complex but, in cutting through the complexities, the courts will always focus on the welfare of the children involved, as was evidenced in a High Court case centred on a child abduction . A...
The division of matrimonial assets is often the cause of protracted legal proceedings, where parties differ on what is due to whom. In a recent Family Court case , the question of whether or not a £2 million diamond formed part of such assets was the...
Failing to comply with court orders to bring children back to the UK, in instances where one parent has taken them abroad without the permission of the other, can come at a heavy cost. This point was underlined in a recent contempt hearing at the High Court...
