Financial Provision: Love, honour and compensate

In the first of a two-part analysis Huw Miles looks at the courts’ approach to compensation If the other party, who has been the beneficiary of the choices made during the marriage, is a high earner with a substantial surplus over what is required to meet both parties needs, then a premium above needs can …
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International Focus: Binding issues

Suzanne Kingston and Amy Royce-Greensill summarise the current position on pre-nuptials and set out a comparison of the approach in other jurisdictions ‘When considering a pre-nuptial agreement, the court should take all of the circumstances of the case into account from the basis that each case will turn on its own facts.’ This is the …
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International Focus: Notable differences

Philippa Cunniff compares Scottish law with family law in England and Wales At a time when minds are focused on the harmonisation of laws across Europe, it can be easy to overlook the fact that even within the UK, the laws relating to financial provision on divorce or dissolution of civil partnerships are very different. …
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Pre-Acquired Wealth: Counting contributions

Kirstie Gibson studies the courts’ approach to pre-acquired wealth in a long marriage ‘Pre-marital property should be taken into account because it represents a contribution made by one party unmatched by an equivalent contribution from the other party.’ In Charman v Charman [2007] the court said that for nearly five years, since White v White …
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Pre-Marriage Assets: Modest standards

Julian Bremner analyses the impact of the treatment of pre-marriage assets on the courts’ approach ‘The court in K v L [2011] was at pains to point out that the recognition that one partner had made a greater financial contribution to the marriage than the other is not discriminative and, although superficial differences should not …
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Divorce And Trusts: What happens to the family silver?

Katharine Landells reviews Jones, the latest case to show the court’s attitude to inherited assets on divorce ‘The fact that wealth is inherited and not earned does not justify it being treated differently from wealth accrued during the marriage.’ Since the sea change in family law following White v White [2000], it has been a …
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International: Crossing borders

David Hodson highlights the provisions of the new EU maintenance regulations ‘The separation of resolution of maintenance and non-maintenance is completely normal for continental European family lawyers, but completely alien and seemingly very strange to English practitioners.’ On 18 June 2011, the EU Maintenance Regulation of 18 December 2008 will apply directly within English domestic …
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Disclosure: A second bite

Kirstie Gibson outlines the differences between applications to set aside and appeals in the light of recent Court of Appeal decisions ‘The sharing principle should not be imposed on other starting points in relation to particular types of assets, depending on whether they were matrimonial or non-matrimonial.’ The recent Court of Appeal decision in Kingdon …
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Inherited Assets: Preserving for the future

Chris McIntosh reviews the courts’ approach where the marital assets are inherited as in the decision in Robson v Robson ‘Financial needs should be considered in conjunction with the s25 MCA 1973 factors, viewed through the prism of the available resources, which might not have remained at a consistent level throughout the relationship.’ The case …
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Radmacher (formerly Granatino) v Granatino WTLR(w) 2010-13

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