When couples separate, emotions can often hinder difficult issues being discussed. Mediation is a process that is designed to help people reach an early agreement, with the minimum of cost, delay and confrontation. It can ease the pain of a family breakdown or separation, encourages people to be open and discuss the implications of their
The divorce rate may be set to rise as the recession ends and the economy recovers, according to a survey of family lawyers. The survey, carried out by accountancy firm Grant Thornton, found that eight out of 10 lawyers felt that the recession had led to married couples delaying divorce proceedings. The reason is thought
A father has won his appeal against a judge’s decision that his daughter should be sent back toSpainto live with her mother. The case involved a couple with four children. The father was British and the mother was Spanish. The family had spent most of their time living in theUK, but when the couple’s relationship
A wife who wanted to receive periodic payments from her husband as part of a divorce settlement has lost her appeal against a court’s decision that there should be a clean break instead. The case involved a couple who had lived together for several years but then separated only eight months after marrying. They had
Six out of ten MPs believe the law needs to be changed to give unmarried couples more legal protection if they separate. A survey carried out by the family law group, Resolution, found that 69% of MPs agree that the public have a mistaken belief in the “myth of common law marriage”. This misconception leads
A couple have been told they are committing financial suicide by running up huge bills in a fight over which country should deal with their divorce. Aloke Ray and Dr Charoo Sekhri met through an online dating agency in 2008. They married in 2009 and lived inLondon, but later moved toSingapore. They have one son.
The divorce rate among the over-60s is continuing to rise, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is in contrast to the overall divorce figures which are falling. The divorce rate for older people was relatively stable in the 1980s but then started to rise in the early 1990s.
A father has won his appeal against a judge’s decision limiting the amount of time he was allowed to spend with his four children. The father wanted to have as much contact as possible with the children following the breakdown of his relationship with the mother. Local authority experts recommended that he should be allowed
A husband has lost his appeal to have his payments to his former wife reduced even though the couple’s assets had not been divided equally as part of the divorce settlement. The case involved a couple in their 30s who had been married for 10 years and had a daughter aged three. The wife earned
The Court of Appeal has overturned a judge’s ruling which allowed a father increased contact with his daughter. The judge granted the father extra unsupervised contact, despite also insisting that he undergo a psychological assessment to determine that the child would be safe in his care. A report produced by CAFCASS, the agency that protects