Wednesday September 29, 2010 at 6:31pm
Divorce is not good and not a nice thing. In an ideal world it wouldn’t be necessary and I would have to embark on a different career. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind if it meant that all relationships were loving and happy and all children grew up in a nurturing environment with two caring parents. Sadly though we know we do not live in a Disney land and the reality is that divorce is commonplace. Many children cope with it incredibly well. Others struggle more but come out the other ....
Tuesday September 28, 2010 at 10:49am
It doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman; going through a divorce can be extremely stressful. Most people go through a range of emotions during or even before the process has begun. There are ways in which you can help yourself to deal with these stresses and I have set out below five top tips that I feel will benefit men going through divorce. There are also ideas of what men need to consider before they start the whole divorce process: 1. Think carefully before you act I know i....
Friday September 17, 2010 at 3:18pm
I was blogging recently about collective wisdom: if it is commonly held belief then it becomes true to many people, like the myth about rights for commonlaw husbands and wives. Another related phenomenon is the wisdom of mates down the pub. This is a phrase with a slightly male slant when what I really mean is any friends, colleagues or acquaintances of both sexes who give someone the benefit of their knowledge and experience as it relates to a specific case. It is amazing how much of an influen....
Thursday September 16, 2010 at 8:30pm
These days it is not a question of whether or not we should embrace technological changes and emerging social but more a question of how do we keep up with the waves of changes and innovations? If we don’t keep on top of these things and make the most of the opportunities, we could be losing out and missing the whole point of getting involved in the first place. However, time devoted to keeping abreast of the latest gadgets and social networking tools can end up having a detrimental impact....
Thursday September 16, 2010 at 9:41am
For years and years when we have talked about marriage and couples and bringing up the children, the assumption – to a large extent correctly – has been that it is the woman sacrificing her time to stay at home with the kids. This is not a personal comment on gender roles, but merely a statement of fact. Statistically, more women stay at home with the children than men, even in the modern day when it is common for women to go back to work fairly swiftly in many cases. Could the tide ....
Tuesday September 14, 2010 at 3:54pm
When I first read this article it did strike me more as the sort of thing you would see as a storyline on Desperate Housewives as much as a real-life report. A scorned wife successfully sues their husband’s mistress for £3.75 million. In the United States of course. But then, when you think of it, in this day and age, it is perhaps surprising that it caught my eye as being something unusual. Hardly anything surprises us these days. Children divorcing parents, football stars scoring w....
Monday September 13, 2010 at 7:09pm
It is an unfortunate reality working as a
family law solicitor that we regularly come across domestic violence. Some individuals suffer in silence for years before finding a way to get away form an abusive partner. Others courageously take a stand the first time an incident happens. Every case is unique – and every one is disturbing, whether it is physical or mental abuse. Now I chose those words carefully. I didn’t want to statements about whether victims of domestic violence are ma....
Friday September 10, 2010 at 4:13pm
We are good at explaining the law to our clients. This seems especially important when dealing with child contact, residence or "custody" cases. Things are so fraught. There can be a tendency to use the children as weapons in the battle.
We do explain the emotional issues, realities and also the suggested ways of behaving that might best benefit the children. Of course, many clients either take notice or don't really need to hear much about such things as they understand them. Judges ....
Thursday September 9, 2010 at 6:17am
It’s funny how certain things, if talked about enough, become accepted as the truth. Collective wisdom dictates that something must be true because “everyone” says so. Such myths need not have any basis in reality and yet large swathes of the population believe them to be so. Most are innocuous enough. “If cows are lying down, it is going to rain.” I am not sure that many bovines have weather predicting abilities in reality. “White wine gets red wine sta....
Wednesday September 8, 2010 at 3:27pm
Another high-profile couple break-up, another deluge of incorrect headlines about quickie divorce. I’ve said it before many times so I am not going to labour the point here about Cheryl and Ashley Cole but there is no such thing. Celebrities have to wait the same time as everyone else etc etc. How do we educate the media on this important family law issue? Would it change anything if we did spell it out and they did listen? I doubt it. “Quickie divorce” is a snappy headli....
Wednesday September 8, 2010 at 10:56am
A Twitter contact of mine came up with a beautifully simple solution to the age old problem of how parents continue parenting when a relationship breaks down: a Children Contract. This would be a document filled with parents’ goals, pledges and aspirations for children, useful during a relationship but invaluable during separation. How helpful would it be to make this at a time when parents can easily acknowledge what the other parent can offer their children, be open about where parenting....