Thursday March 31, 2011 at 10:00am
ADR seems to be a new buzz word in family law at the moment. Alternative Dispute Resolution has been mentioned much in context of family mediation, as mediation is an example of ADR. However, an alternative route to mediation is collaborative divorce. I’ve talked about collaborative family law a number of times before but I think in the current climate there has been some confusion around collaboration, mediation and ADR, so it is worth mentioning again. A big difference between collaborat....
Tuesday March 29, 2011 at 10:00am
I always watch the Budget with interest. The pantomime that goes with it is often as entertaining as any comedy programme you’ll see on television. There are villains, cheers, boos and backstabbing. It is particularly entertaining coming soon after a general election where there has been a change of the guard. The former Government is always quick to stick the knife in about the state of the economy – an economy which we all know cannot be changed quickly and of which they were, inev....
Thursday March 24, 2011 at 10:00am
Interesting news from the South by Southwest festival of film, music and technology in Texas last week – SXSW to those in the know, I’m told. This is a globally renowned get together showcasing the latest advancements in technology, attracting some of the electronic industry’s leading figures to discuss where we are and where we are, or should be going, in the future in terms of development. So it is quite telling that a few words spoken by Google Vice president Marisa Mayer am....
Tuesday March 22, 2011 at 10:00am
I’m picking up on a theme from last week again if I may. It is a topic that is here to stay and, as April 6 looms ever closer, the more we can understand about the impact of the New Family Law Procedure Rules 2010, the better. I think people do have a perception that the law is, more often than not, black and white. Guilty/not guilty. Divorced/married. It follows therefore that lawyers should all be very clear on what the rules are and how they should be applied. But when changes are intro....
Thursday March 17, 2011 at 10:00am
Ask many people what is the worst thing about the legal profession and they may well say “the jargon”. They may well say many other, less polite, things as well perhaps, but the language used in many aspects of our work lurches from arcane to ridiculous. Sensible, succinct and clear definitions can be difficult to find. However, I am hoping that a tide of change may be starting with the New Family Procedure Rules 2010 that come into force on April 6. They provide for a new code of pr....
Tuesday March 15, 2011 at 10:00am
I read about a survey last week which suggests that an increasing number of parents are reluctant to leave money to their married children in case they get divorced and the other party gets their hands on a chunk of it. The research shows 35 per cent of parents had concerns and did not want to leave assets to their children for fear some of it might be siphoned off by an estranged partner in any settlement. This was brought fully into focus for me when one in four parents said they had doubts wh....
Thursday March 10, 2011 at 10:00am
What have Kate Winslet and a growing number of gay couples got in common? They both believe in marriage! Yes, the importance of marriage is a hot topic again it seems. Kate Winslet told Glamour magazine how she truly believes in the importance of marriage and the specialness of such a lifelong commitment to a partner. Yes, this is the same Kate Winslet who recently split from her second husband in three years. Heart-warming to hear she still has hope though. A romantic at heart. Her comments com....
Tuesday March 8, 2011 at 10:00am
It has long been acknowledged that children are the biggest losers when parents divorce. Nothing can prepare them for everything they have known in terms of family life being torn apart and their worlds thrown up into the air. I think most people would agree it is worse for younger children. They rely on their parents for everything so any change to domestic circumstances has a profound effect. As children grow older and become more independent and self-sufficient, their day to day lives may be ....
Thursday March 3, 2011 at 10:00am
Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show the divorce rate in England and Wales is at its lowest rate since 1974. In 2009, there were a total of 113,949, a decrease of 6.4 per cent since 2008. Impressively, that is the sixth annual fall in a row.
Apart from the more troubling peripheral questions this raises for me, like why are statisticians always so slow (2009 latest figures when we’re now well into 2011?), I did ask myself why this might be.
Well, one simple contri....
Tuesday March 1, 2011 at 10:00am
Mixed feeling this week about the news that more couples are to be told to try mediation before going to the courts to settle their divorce details.
Issues like the division of assets are better dealt with through couples agreeing to speak to trained mediators to thrash out a deal rather than using up costly court time. From April, couples who are in dispute about their matrimonial finances will be pushed towards mediation.
Now on the one hand, I would agree that a lot of unnecessary court....