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Adoption Process Explained
The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil partners. Unmarried couples... -
Business Assets and Divorce
Divorce is seldom an easy business, but the problems are compounded when there is a family business involved. The division of the spoils has traditionally been the subject of a great deal of argument, but recent cases have at least clarified the thinking of... -
Care Orders - New Procedures
A care order is a court order that places a child under the care of a local council. The local council then shares parental responsibility for the child with the parents and will make most of the important decisions about the child's upbringing, such as... -
Child Custody Explained
Arrangements over the custody of children (called residence arrangements by lawyers) after the breakdown of a relationship are usually best decided without the intervention of the court. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for the two parties to... -
Child Maintenance Changes
Are you aware of the changes in the law? The Child Support Agency (CSA) has constantly frustrated parents with its delays in processing applications, the length of time it takes for changes in circumstances to be reflected in increased or reduced payments... -
Child Maintenance Explained
In spite of reforms introduced in 2003, the Child Support Agency (CSA) was heavily criticised for failing to meet its objectives. With nearly £4 billion worth of unpaid child maintenance estimated to be outstanding, clearly something had to be done.... -
Civil Partnerships - What they Mean for You
The first Civil Partnerships were formed on 21 December 2005, after the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 came into effect on 5 December 2005. Same-sex marriages contracted abroad, however, have been recognised as valid civil partnerships from 5 December... -
Cohabitation Agreements - Protection for Unmarried Couples
One of the most common myths in English law is that there is such a thing as a ‘common law marriage’. It simply doesn’t exist and this misapprehension has led the Law Commission to suggest proposals giving additional rights to cohabiting... -
Collaborative Law: A Positive Future out of a Painful Present
One of life’s most painful experiences is the breakdown of a relationship. It is an important part of recovery to be able to look to the future, rather than dwell on the past. But in the aftermath of a separation it is necessary to sort out your... -
Divorce and Foreign Nationality
Approximately one in six marriages in the European Union is between persons of different nationalities. Not surprisingly, approximately one in six divorces also involves spouses of different nationalities. This can make for some complexity on divorce as to... -
Divorce and Money
When it comes to dealing with money and divorce, it is important to know what has to be taken into account and the powers available to arrive at fair decisions. For most couples, the basic problem is how to finance two separate households from income and... -
Divorce and the Company Director
Divorce is almost never easy and the financial negotiations can be protracted and difficult, particularly when there are business interests involved. In this article we consider some of the issues surrounding divorce for company directors. In the first... -
Divorce and the Family Home?
Family break-up is always complicated and when there is a property involved, things can get very complex indeed. In principle, when a couple are cohabiting (not married or in a civil partnership) the property belongs as of right to whoever is shown on the... -
Financial Settlements in Divorce: Factors
The headline-grabbing decisions in a spate of ‘rich list’ divorce cases in 2007 confirmed that the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court) is emphasising that marriage is a partnership and that the relative contributions of... -
Guide to Adoption Process
The most important requirements for adoption are that the adopter must be over 21 years of age, the child to be adopted must be under the age of 18 and that joint applications to adopt can only be made by married couples and civil partners. Unmarried couples... -
How to Avoid a Divorce and a Tax Bill
Did you know that transferring property to or from your partner attracts capital gains tax? For tax purposes a transfer between cohabitants is the same as a sale on the open market and attracts CGT in the same way – at 18% on profit;... -
Living Together Agreements
When you begin living together as a couple, without being married, it is best practice to set up a trust deed to make clear your joint wishes and intentions concerning ownership of the house you live in. Preferably, this should be in association with a... -
Living Together Campaign
Since 1996 the number of cohabitating couples in the UK has risen by more than 50 percent to 2.3 million- 1 in 6 of all couples- and yet cohabitants are often left without any legal protection when their relationship breaks down. There is no such thing as... -
Parental Responsibility
The 1989 Children Act aimed to clarify the law regarding who could look after children. One of the main new concepts introduced by the Act was that of ‘Parental Responsibility’ (PR). This is the legal term which emphasises that the duty to... -
Parenting After Parting
Each year an estimated 240,000 children in the UK experience the separation of their parents. Overall, more than one in three children will see their parents split up before they reach their 16th birthday. What do children feel when they live through their... -
Post-Nuptial Agreements - the Basics
More than 40 per cent of marriages end in divorce (in England and Wales more than 125,000 couples divorce annually) and when one in five of all men and women seeking to end their marriage have already been through one divorce, it is perhaps not surprising... -
Pre-Nuptial Agreements: Wise Planning for the Wealthy
Following a recent decision in the Court of Appeal, in which a pre-nuptial agreement entered into by a German heiress and her husband was held to be enforceable, wealthy families worried about preserving family assets in the event of a divorce should... -
Superman: Mission Accomplished?
(or Children and Adoption Act 2006) On 8th December 2008 the remaining provisions of Part 1 of The Children and Adoption Act 2006 came into force. The Act enhances the Court’s power to encourage contact between children and non-resident parents and... -
Taking Children into Care - The Legal Process
We often hear of children being taken into care, but the process by which this occurs is not well known. The Children Act 1989 lays down the circumstances under which it is appropriate for a child to be taken into care or a supervision order made. The... -
The Process of Divorce
Although divorce is a commonplace occurrence these days, few people going into their first divorce have much idea about how the process operates. Here is a brief guide. The process for dissolution of a civil partnership is essentially the same, as are the...
Family and Matrimonial
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