October 2017 #170 – Law Journals

International Focus: La vita familiare

Marco Calabrese and Rebecca Harling outline the approach to divorce and finances in Italy ‘Separation and divorce in Italy is based on a no-fault system; one merely records an irretrievable breakdown in the marriage to the court.’ There are a number of similarities between family law in England and Wales and in Italy, but also …

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Financial Provision: An open door

David Hickmott examines the Supreme Court decision in Birch v Birch and the importance of the discretionary jurisdiction in the family courts ‘The matter could, and should, have been more expeditiously dealt with had the parties addressed the court as to a proper inquiry into the merits of the wife’s application, rather than being derailed …

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Non-Matrimonial Property: Beyond reach?

In the conclusion to a two-part analysis, Deborah Jeff considers the law on non-matrimonial assets and the key principles applied ‘While non-matrimonial property is subject to the sharing principle, it still typically results in a departure from equal sharing – anything from 0-100%.’ The first part of this article looked at the Privy Council decision …

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Private Children: Divided loyalties

Laura Guillon looks at change of residence orders in private law proceedings, and the need for properly formulated arguments at first instance ‘The judge found that there was no prospect of the mother being able to change in any meaningful or sustainable way and that she would not desist in involving the children in her …

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Trusts: Defined purpose

Fiona O’Sullivan analyses the approach of the Court of Appeal in a case concerned with charitable trust assets ‘Quan v Bray reminds practitioners of the importance of considering family law issues at all stages of trust planning and management.’ In Quan v Bray [2017] the Court of Appeal had an opportunity to consider the status …

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Conduct: The blame game

Natasha Kurth suggests that arguments as to conduct should be rare in financial proceedings, and approached with caution ‘In R v B each party accepted that the conduct allegations raised could amount to conduct that it would be inequitable to disregard, but denied that the factual position justified such a finding in this case.’ The …

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Child Support: A change for the worse

Vanessa McMurtrie and Catherine Poleykett comment on the decision in Green v Adams and the interaction between applications under Sch 1 to the Children Act 1989 and maintenance assessments ‘The evolution of the child maintenance legislation is not a happy one, and it is remarkable how far successive governments have managed to stray from the …

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