There’s been a lot of talk in the last week about so called ‘divorce week’ at the start of January – the busiest week of the year for us divorce solicitors. Personally, I don’t think this is something to highlight. It’s like cheering when your team loses at football. This…
We’re happy cohabiting, why bother getting married? Like millions of others our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and his partner, Carrie Symonds, have chosen to live together rather than get married. In fact, I read that around 3.4 million people in the UK now live together as cohabitees rather than getting…
Divorcing couples with children often find reaching an agreement about the care of their children after divorce or separation pretty difficult. Those who cannot reach an agreement amicably find themselves asking the family court to decide. Either party can make an application for what is known as a child arrangements…
What is a special guardianship order? A Special Guardianship order is one that members of a child’s family may consider where the child or children are being cared for permanently by family members other than their parents. This could apply for example to grandparents, aunts or uncles. There are a…
Since the early 1990s Child Support Agency (CSA) (now called the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)) has dealt with financial support for children. This means that in the majority of cases the court cannot decide how much child support is payable. However, where one or other parent lives outside England or…
It costs the British economy approximately £71.1m per year according to the NHS. The personal cost is immeasurable. Its victims make up an estimated 70% of those out of work. Stress. We’ve all heard of it and at some point during our lives (probably more than we’d care to admit)…
The last few months have been strange, to say the least. With seemingly mixed understanding of the danger outside, the Government asked us to stay inside as much as possible and closed businesses and schools. Whilst key and essential workers carried on the majority of people were either furloughed or…
Collaborative divorce can be a great alternative to the traditional court process for many couples but in the current climate there has been some confusion around collaboration, mediation and other forms of dispute resolution, so it is worth explaining the differences before exploring more fully whether collaborative divorce is right…
This blog explores the alternatives you might consider when resolving disagreements during the divorce process. In any divorce there are often seriously difficult issues to resolve between the parties, so what are the sort of methods we can use as lawyers to help with that and to reach a resolution?…
The world has changed for all us all in the last week or two, including for us divorce lawyers. Restrictions imposed upon movement and contact with loved ones mean it is tempting to think that we can do nothing whilst we are in coronavirus “lockdown”. Some things however don’t change…
As a firm we’ve been in-undated with calls and emails from separated parents begging for clarity around whether their children should be seeing both parents at the moment. The headlines are confusing, social media is scary and juggling work and home schooling is a huge ask for parents. Add to…