Family law, relationships, separation & divorce: thoughts & comment
The use of covert recordings in family proceedings has recently been highlighted after the President of the Family Division, Sir James Munby, warned that this has become a topic of "growing significance". It seems that desperate parties are going to increasingly greater lengths to produce evidence that could sway a case in their favour, where... Continue Reading →
A separation can be one of the most stressful, distressing and disorienting experiences in life. There are new things to think about, different decisions to make, and steps that have to be taken alone, which can be daunting after years of sharing that burden with someone else. Separation is one of those traumatic events that... Continue Reading →
I am delighted to have qualified as a Resolution Accredited Specialist in family law, with particular expertise in Complex Financial Remedies and Children Law. This means that I am considered to be one of the leading experts in the field of family law, in particular in relation to finance and children matters, having been through... Continue Reading →
3 January 2017. The first working day of the new year. Supposedly, one of the “highlights” of every family lawyer’s calendar, when we allegedly see a year-on-year unprecedented increase in new enquiries about divorce and separation. Every year, we will read in the press of one or two law firms anticipating a huge rise in... Continue Reading →
The rapid growth of social media over the past decade has changed the way we communicate with each other, the information that we share and who we share it with. Social media is now an ordinary part of many people’s everyday lives and one inevitable result of this is the impact that it can have... Continue Reading →
The Brexit referendum takes place on 23 June. I can't help but look at this with my "family lawyer" hat on and consider what the implications would be for my day-to-day practice and my clients, whether based in England or abroad. Many international families would inevitably be affected by changes to our laws as a... Continue Reading →
Lily Allen hit the headlines recently after phoning in to LBC Radio in London, stating that she thought "an introduction to divorce" and other topics such as taxes should form part of the school curriculum. Lily's spontaneous call to LBC host Shelagh Fogarty followed an on-air discussion about comments that Lily had made about education... Continue Reading →
Following a separation, people’s lives can often move in very different directions and this can or will often have huge implications for their children. This is especially so if a new partner or new job means that one parent is looking at moving further afield, perhaps to a different part of the UK or abroad.... Continue Reading →
Alongside the day job, I am actively involved in Resolution, the membership organisation for family lawyers. I have been a Resolution member since my student days and joined the Bristol Young Resolution committee as a family trainee. I became chair a couple of years ago and was involved in setting up a national YRes working... Continue Reading →
In the first international child abduction case involving same-sex parents, the Supreme Court has decided that the English court still has jurisdiction to make decisions about the welfare of a child (B) who was taken to live in Pakistan by her biological mother. The decision in Re B (A Child) (Habitual Residence: Inherent Jurisdiction) [2016]... Continue Reading →
Picking up the pieces 