The family courts are kept busy these days with disputes over which parent children should live with – especially when the parents are of different nationalities. In a recent case, an Algerian court had awarded custody to the mother of…
Love is a wonderful thing, but it can lead to unwise and life-changing decisions made without legal advice. In one case, a woman contributed thousands of pounds to the construction of her lover’s home in the mistaken hope that he…
A recent case has illustrated that a lack of formal agreements regarding the ownership of assets is a proven recipe for dispute when a relationship breaks up. It involved a couple who ran a frozen food business and lived together…
One of the things that the family court seeks to do when divorce settlements are being made is to achieve finality. Where a settlement has been agreed by the court, it is normally difficult to vary it unless a significant…
Claims by dependants who are excluded from estates from which they might reasonably expect to benefit can, in appropriate circumstances, be made under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. However, divorce settlements normally contain a clause which…
Giving false evidence to any court can have serious consequences, as an errant ex-husband may be about to discover. Ex-spouses are often reluctant to pay their debts to their former partner and, in one extreme case, a husband who claimed…
The welfare of children is always the principal concern of the court in care proceedings and the rights of their parents are of much lesser importance. In one case, a judge opened the way for adoption of a seriously ill…
When it comes to dividing marital assets following divorce, you only get one bite of the cherry and high quality legal advice is essential from the outset. One ex-husband discovered the truth of that statement when his complaints that his…
Individual human rights sometimes have to give ground to the wider public interest in coherent rules applying to all. In one such case, a transgender woman who objected to being called her children's 'father' on their birth certificates failed in…
Yet another case has come to court which illustrates the wisdom of cohabiting couples making a 'living together agreement' or formalising their respective rights over the property in which they live. It involved a couple who formed their relationship in…