Family and Matrimonial

With new guidance having been issued regarding the interpretation of ‘need’ for the purpose of financial settlements on divorce, a recent case shows how the courts have been moving away...

Harassment is an unfortunate fact in some relationship breakdowns. In a bid to reduce the incidence of harassment and molestation following splits, the Family Law Act 1996 made it a...

Not many people would disagree with the position that children should only be taken from their natural parents as a last resort and this is the view of the court...

It is inevitable that those in receipt of court orders often consider them to be unjust – but that is never an excuse for failing to obey them. The High...

Divorce settlements are designed to provide certainty and finality so that people can get on with the rest of their lives. However, an important Court of Appeal decision has underlined...

The respective rights of children and their parents has long been a tricky subject for the courts. A recent case on this topic involved a couple’s adopted 16-year-old child, who...

The breakdown of a relationship is sadly often accompanied by dispute over the ownership of once shared possessions. However, one High Court case vividly shows why it is nearly always...

Divorce cases involving the very rich are over-represented in court reports for the simple reason that where the family is very wealthy, the costs of arguing over the division of...

The voices of children will always be heard by family judges in care proceedings, but they are not always decisive and can be outweighed by other factors. In one case,...

Divorces are very seldom totally amicable, but letting squabbles over the terms under which a marriage is dissolved run on and on can be ruinous, as a recent case shows....