October 2016 #160 – Law Journals

Children: Seen but not heard?

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Josh McEvoy suggests that long-established principles regarding children giving evidence may at long last be followed by the courts ‘In principle, the approach to a child giving evidence in private children law proceedings should be the same as in public children care proceedings.’The right of a child to be heard within family law proceedings has …

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Third-Party Interests: Keeping it in the family

Rayner Grice sets out key considerations and practical tips when dealing with multi-generational households and third-party property interests within families ‘Any loan arrangement that comes to light only at the time of the breakdown of the relationship is most likely going to be viewed with a large degree of scepticism.’A recent study by Aviva forecast …

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Divorce: Silver splitters

Fiona O’Sullivan examines the increase in divorce rates for older couples and the financial considerations that may apply in such cases ‘With the freedom to “cash in” defined contribution schemes, each spouse may have access to capital that in some cases is sufficient to fund the purchase of alternative accommodation, or at least provide a …

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Cohabitation: Doublespeak

James Carroll and Shantel Burbridge highlight the disparity in the courts’ approach to cohabitation that precedes marriage or civil partnership, and cohabitants who do not marry or enter into a civil partnership ‘Figures from the Office of National Statistics (July 2016) show that there has been an increase in those who are cohabiting but have …

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Financial Provision: All in order

Paula Butterworth and Sohinni Sanghvi provide an overview of the court’s powers to make financial orders and the significance of the timing of the decree nisi ‘If the court purports to make an order, or provides for a judgment to take effect prior to decree nisi, the resulting order will be a nullity and cannot …

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Mediation: Pushing boundaries

Andrew Baines looks at the conundrum of mediated agreements that may be ‘too good’ to work in practice ‘Where an agreement may be fixed and written down to preserve its certainty, people are not so fixed, and their lines of development will continue to dance once the mediation is over.’This article sets out my understanding …

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Disclosure: Behind closed doors

Lehna Hewitt considers when information from financial remedy proceedings can be disclosed in related legal proceedings ‘In considering whether to make an order for disclosure, the court has to weigh up competing interests, namely confidentiality versus public interest.’Where criminal proceedings arise in relation to a child, in addition to care proceedings, it is recognised by …

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