Old Blog Posts: September 2009

Grandparents rights is still an issue which is causing huge upset and it is so unecessary. The Times reported a truly sorrowful tale of a grandfather (a retired Judge as it happens) effectively being stopped from seeing his grandchildren after his son had died and also tells his opinion of what he clearly sees to be the suffering caused by the Court system. It also makes it very clear that he thinks the Children Act requirement that grandparents should have to ask for permission to apply for co....

The Government is considering forcing divorcing couples to go to mediation before being able to start divorce proceedings. Looking at that quickly, you'd think that was a very sensible suggestion. All of us would think a mediated settlement was better than one obtained from a Court. (By "better" I do not mean a higher figure but one less destructive to relationships and often much cheaper) The Times reprots that Baroness Deech, is opposed." You can't mediate with a person or coupl....

Massive divorce financial settlements are humiliating to women, according to Baroness Deech reported in The Times! Well, are they really? If so I know a lot of women who have got over the humiliation very well. I am sure it is not the financial settlement that is humiliating, if anything it is the social engineering that even these days leaves the average woman much less better off than the average man. I am with her when she asks for the financial settlement upon divorce laws to be changed and ....

There are so very many myths surrounding divorce, separation and also living together. You know the sort of thing: "I'm not entitled to anything from his business" (true or false--click the link to find out!) "I don't need to get married as I have the same rights as a common law wife" "I can divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences" There can be some humour here in some beliefs but actually these myths can cause people a lot of unneces....

Stop sleeping together seems to be the advice from Dr Stanley who set up one of the first sleep study laboratories and is based at the University of Surrey! He told the British Science Festival that sleeping together seemd to worsen a night of sleep and that if one partner awakes there is a 50% chance the other will, too. Sleep, he says, is a crucial part of staying healthy and often ignored. Well, he knows about this much better than I do! But we do often have clients seeking a divorce on the....

A new study just out shows that women are about 3 times more likely than men to be arrested for domestic violence. See this in the context that men are much more likely to be physically abusive, although women are more likely to use a weapon. Perhaps of more concern is that children were present in 55% of cases involving some form of violence or similar abuse. The effect upon them probably cannot be measured and issues of child contact and  residence loom large. Our divorce lawyers are of....

The Times was not alone in suggesting that divorce Courts in the south of England seem to favour wives more than Courts in the north of the country. By "favour" I think they mean give bigger awards when dealing with a financial settlement after a divorce, which is often referred to as a divorce settlement. Do they favour wives in the south? Let's have a look at the views. Many men would say that divorce Courts favour wives in every part of the country! But I do not think they do. ....