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Amy Harris summarises the key elements of a claim for proprietary estoppel and highlights the significance of the evidence available to the court in such cases ‘The three main elements of a proprietary estoppel claim do not sit in “watertight compartments”, and judicial discretion is key.’ In Guest v Guest [2019], the court was concerned …
Continue reading "Proprietary estoppel: Broken promises"
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Abigail Lowther considers pre-nuptial agreements and the requirement for needs to be met to ensure such an agreement is valid ‘While the husband could be expected to meet his own needs from income, the possible impact on the children of seeing their father as the “poor relation” would create an unhappy and divisive disparity in …
Continue reading "Marital agreements: Searching for fairness"
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Suzanne Kingston and Ciara Moore highlight key considerations for pre-nuptial agreements around the world A panel discussion at the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) meeting in Stuttgart regarding international pre-nuptial agreements included brilliant lawyers from around the world, who have helped prepare this article. We considered a number of the key issues of the …
Continue reading "International focus: Asking the right questions"
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Katharine Landells examines the courts’ approach to bonus income and the significance of both timing and needs ‘The Court of Appeal was clear that there is no hard and fast rule that all assets accumulated during a marriage will necessarily be shared equally on divorce.’ In determining a fair outcome for financial division on divorce, …
Continue reading "Bonuses: Part of the pot?"
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Sital Fontenelle and Elizabeth Burch consider the different approaches to spousal maintenance and whether a formula for maintenance would provide clarity ‘Duxbury is clearly still the starting point – and currently the favoured approach by judges, however there is increasing interest in exploring alternative methods.’ How much and for how long is a standard question …
Continue reading "Spousal maintenance: A system of Russian roulette?"
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Rachel Nicholl reviews the approach of the family courts in cases where a party suffers from ill health or a life-limiting illness ‘Health or physical impairment is just one factor the court will take into consideration, although it is very much intertwined with other elements such as housing, long-term needs, income and earning capacity.’ When …
Continue reading "Financial provision: Exceptional needs"
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Amy Harris looks at the requirements for leave to make a financial claim after an overseas divorce and the test to be satisfied ‘In Vasilyeva, it was the wife’s position that the husband was vastly wealthier than had been reflected in the Russian proceedings and the lack of disclosure was therefore a pertinent issue when …
Continue reading "Overseas divorce: The first hurdle"
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Patricia Robinson and David Wilkinson discuss an appeal against an order for indirect contact where the judge’s approach to evaluation was found wanting ‘The first instance decision was criticised for giving too little weight to the gravity of the findings that the mother had emotionally abused the child and the long-term impact that would be …
Continue reading "Private children: Exhausting the options"
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Sean Hilton highlights the importance of identifying trust issues at the outset of a case and ascertaining the willingness of trustees to make distributions from such assets ‘If the court is to find that assets not held in the name of an individual are nonetheless a resource available to them, it must first hear evidence …
Continue reading "Trusts: The complete picture"
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Penelope Stanistreet-Keen comments on the implications for children proceedings in the wake of Brexit, and the potential impact of plans to replace the use of EU Regulations with Hague Conventions in such cases ‘Where a Hague Convention covers the same area, the government will repeal the existing EU rules and switch to the relevant Hague …
Continue reading "Brexit: A mirror image?"
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