There are over 3 million people living together in the UK as cohabiting couples according to the Office of National Statistics . Cohabiting couples are in fact the fastest growing family type. However there is currently very little if any legal protection for such couples if their relationship breaks down.
Q. We want to help our 20 year old daughter buy her first flat, but we’re worried about putting such a valuable asset directly in her name. Is there anything we can do to protect the property until she’s a bit older?
It is increasingly difficult to save for a deposit whilst paying rent and outgoings on a rented property. Lenders are now far more cautious about how much they will lend and who they will lend it to. As a result parents are regularly stepping in to help out their children to purchase a property.
Partner, Kirstie Law from our family team speaks to The Times and comments on the privacy of Ryan Giggs' divorce.
Desmond O'Donnell, senior associate from our family department and Stuart Price, solicitor from our private client department speak with Spear's about pre-nuptial agreements for wealthy families.
Q: I have recently separated from my long term partner, we were not married. Am I able to make a financial claim against them?
Christmas is undoubtedly one of the hardest times for parents who are separated. Do remember that most families find Christmas stressful at times. Acknowledge that it is inevitably particularly hard when there is so much emphasis on one day that most separated parents cannot spend together so usually “miss out” alternate years.
Social media seems to be taking over the world as a form of communication. Both young and old are opening Twitter accounts, regularly updating their Facebook pages, constantly sending text messages and exchanging photographs on Instagram to name a few.
Every so often there is a high profile wedding or divorce which highlights throughout the media the role of prenuptial agreements. It is certainly the case that more couples are entering into a prenuptial agreement before they marry. In early 2016, when Cheryl Cole’s marriage broke down, there was a lot of speculation in the media as to whether she and her husband had entered into a prenuptial agreement, and if they hadn’t, what the extent of his potential claim against her might be.
Joanna Pratt, Partner in our family department speaks to global wealth management reporter WeathBriefing and discusses a case in which a business owner sold a large block of shares in a company to fund a divorce settlement.
Pre-nuptial agreements are becoming more common, and are not just for the rich and famous. Helen Waite, Senior Associate in our Family team, addresses the importance of protecting family wealth at an early stage of a relationship and explains the options available.
We are pleased to receive, for another year, the accolade from eprivateclient of being listed as one of the Top 25 Law Firms in the UK.
Desmond O'Donnell from our Family team speaks to the Guardian in relation to the Laura Ashley boss divorce case.
The Maughan v Wilmott [2016] EWHC 29 (Fam) case outlines a child maintenance order served by email whilst a husband was out of jurisdiction. The husband would like the order set aside due to the basis that it was served to him out of jurisdiction by which the email was refused.
Heterosexual couples may soon be allowed to enter into civil partnership. Nicola Plant from our Private Client department speaks about why some heterosexual couples prefer the idea of civil partnership over marriage and what it will mean to them legally.
Anna Stokeld says a recent bill is considering a change in law to allow ‘happily unmarried’ heterosexual couples to enter civil partnership.
Or to give it its proper name the ‘residence nil rate band’ (RNRB).
In an increasingly competitive and international economy, it is more and more usual to seek new opportunities abroad. However, the lure of exciting new prospects will invariably weigh against concern for those left behind – not just friends and familiar faces, but parents and other relatives. While it may no longer be possible to call in and check up on elderly parents, there are steps that can be taken to give them the support they need and their far-flung children the reassurance they need.
The feedback from both children and parents who have been involved in mediations is extremely positive. Mediation can be concluded very quickly enabling the whole family to move on and hopefully the parents to co-parent more successfully.
For most of us, and increasingly irrespective of age, the digital world has crept into our lives. Whether we manage our bank accounts or investments online, store our photographs in the cloud or manage our social lives through Facebook, our digital footprints are becoming deeper and deeper.
Divorce poses a considerable cost to the state each year. The family courts are overloaded and, despite the changes introduced to make an initial mediation meeting mandatory before issuing children and financial proceedings on divorce, there are still numerous applications to the family courts each day.
10 April is known largely across America as National Siblings Day. We meet plenty of families who are going through separation, and we too recognise the importance of having a day for children to recognise and lean on each other when, at times, feelings may be a little unsettled.
There has been much comment in the press recently about the case of Wyatt v Vince, where an ex-wife was given permission by the Supreme Court to bring a financial remedy claim against her ex-husband, some 22 years after their divorce.
These case studies were serialised in the Kent and Sussex Courier, but are collated together in this case to show all of the different stages a company can go through and how we can assist. MexxaMixx is a ficticious Kent-based business which manufactures and sells a range of Mexican style cooking sauces.
Leading South East law firm Thomson Snell & Passmore is pleased to announce its excellent rankings in the new Chambers UK guide, published last week.
Family lawyers are not unused to significant changes in the way in which the family law system works. The Children Act 1989 introduced a wholly different approach to how the courts dealt with cases relating to the arrangements for children. The Family Law Act 1996 updated the law in respect of domestic violence.
By Joanna Pratt, Partner. Article first published in New Model Adviser, February 2014.
By Kirstie Law, Partner in Family. Article first published in the Family Law Journal April 2013.
Article published in The Lawyer (online) on 4 February 2013.
