December 2020/January 2021 #199 – Law Journals

Variation: To vary or not to vary

Heather Souter summarises the key considerations on an application to vary a financial consent order and the approach of the courts Unless there has been a significant change of circumstance since the order was made, grounds for variation under s31, MCA 1973 seem hard to conceive. The full financial impact of the global pandemic is …

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Children: Forewarned is forearmed

Sarah Wood-Heath highlights the value of pre-conception agreements and the weight that will be given to such agreements by the courts The real benefit of preparing a pre-conception agreement is the value it holds in ensuring that all involved are aware of each other’s legal status, rights and responsibilities in advance of conception. Choosing to …

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Schedule 1: The rich are different?

Schedule 1 claims are often associated with significant wealth, but Vikkie Chetcuti suggests that they may provide useful remedies in more modest cases Given the range of orders available to applicants, it is not only the former partners of the very wealthy who can make use of Schedule 1. According to the Office for National …

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Scotland: Keep the heid

In the first of a two-part consideration, Fiona Turner and Noel Ferry compare divorce and dissolution in England and Wales and in Scotland Divorce or civil partnership dissolution proceedings can be brought in Scotland immediately after a wedding or civil partnership registration, rather than waiting one year as in England and Wales. With increasingly different …

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International focus: The wedding and the sequel

Caroline McNally and Chantelle Woo explain why having two marriage ceremonies can have unintended consequences It is very important to ensure that the marriage ceremony is carried out in a proper manner and that all the procedural steps are conscientiously observed. Since early 2020, the world has been experiencing the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, which is …

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Financial provision: A long shot

Ellie Foster looks at the potential ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the likelihood of a successful application based on Barder There have been pandemics historically but does the immediate and ongoing impact on the global economy of Covid-19 put the 2008 crisis in the shade such that its scale could never have been foreseen? …

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Media access: Eyes wide open

Sarah Williams considers an application by a journalist for a disclosure order in the context of steps towards further transparency in the family courts The decision in Newman goes some way to ensuring that the costs of similar applications should not be prohibitive and provide some comfort to other journalists seeking similar applications in the …

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