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Amy Harris looks at the procedural aspects of a claim under TOLATA 1996 ‘Property and trust law offers cohabitants a much stricter and less malleable process where there is little or no room for judicial discretion.’ For most family law practitioners Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) claims are not dealt …
Continue reading "TOLATA: Different rules"
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Suzanne Kingston and Amy Royce-Greensill summarise the current position on pre-nuptials and set out a comparison of the approach in other jurisdictions ‘When considering a pre-nuptial agreement, the court should take all of the circumstances of the case into account from the basis that each case will turn on its own facts.’ This is the …
Continue reading "International Focus: Binding issues"
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Catherine Morgan discusses the options when faced with difficulties maintaining contact ‘As practitioners are well aware, the resounding message from case law is that unless contact would be damaging to the child, it should go ahead. It is unfortunately the case though that contact can suffer when the relationship between the child’s parents breaks down.’It …
Continue reading "Contact: Opening doors"
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Mandeep Gill sets out the key aspects of the 2006 Hague Convention finally expected to come into force in the UK shortly ‘All three recent Hague Conventions were designed to promote cross-border cooperation, protect the best interests of children and, in many respects, complement each other.’The Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and …
Continue reading "Hague Convention: International protocol"
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Virginia Sherbourne and Vanessa Mitchell look at the lessons to be learnt regarding variation of maintenance from the Court of Appeal decision in N v N ‘The factors applied to the award of periodical payments in general will apply in considering any application to vary the position and the court will strive to be fair …
Continue reading "Financial Provision: Second chances"
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Jessica Craigs takes a topical look at privacy, phone hacking and computer misuse ‘It is highly unlikely that a judge would agree to the family computer being impounded on the mere suspicions of a spouse coupled with a quick look at the internet history.’It was with morbid fascination that I listened to a radio programme …
Continue reading "Privacy: Private affairs"
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Melanie Barnes and James Pirrie set out the case for private child maintenance agreements and less state intervention ‘Where private agreements are made, a parent only has a right to apply for enforcement where the court retains jurisdiction, or until such time as an application is accepted by the CSA.’The government, in support of its …
Continue reading "Child Support: Widening options"
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Karen Eckstein and Frances Bailey highlight the impact of tax planning on financial provision ‘Even with expert evidence making assumptions in relation to contingent assets is a risky strategy to take, as demonstrated by Judge v Judge [2008].’The saying is that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes; save that in fact …
Continue reading "Tax: Planning for tax"
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Philippa Cunniff compares Scottish law with family law in England and Wales At a time when minds are focused on the harmonisation of laws across Europe, it can be easy to overlook the fact that even within the UK, the laws relating to financial provision on divorce or dissolution of civil partnerships are very different. …
Continue reading "International Focus: Notable differences"
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Joanna Kay outlines the regulatory framework and potential pitfalls when advising on surrogacies ‘Under English law, to be recognised as the parents, a commissioning couple needs to either apply to court for a parental order within six months of the birth, or to adopt the children.’There was uproar surrounding the first commercial surrogacy in Britain …
Continue reading "Surrogacy: Commissioning families"
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