From 1st April 2013 legal aid has not been available to help people with the legal costs associated with both divorce and disputes relating to children and finances. There are a few exceptions to this, but these are limited. You can still obtain legal aid if you are financially eligible and: • You are a [...]
Comment and advice on the latest legal issues, and answers to some of the questions we are often asked…
10 Tips to Ensure That Your Legal Costs Don’t Spiral out of Control
The legal Ombudsman recently reported that almost 18% of all complaints related to family law are principally about legal costs. One client had been charged £4,000 for photocopying; another £15,000 for additional costs. Family lawyers reacted defensively to the report with many blogs, comments and interviews, yet it is difficult to understand how such appalling [...]
Emsleys Family Mediation – Changes to legal aid and new challenges ahead for family lawyers
Today, 2nd April 2013, marks the first working day of the changes in the provision of family legal aid. As of today therefore nobody will be able to receive legal aid for family law issues unless the case involves domestic violence (which in itself is a very stringent test); parents involved in local authority care [...]
Chris Grayling – a man out of his depth?
Readers will be aware that I am unimpressed with the present Justice Secretary. An earlier blog referred to his mouth working hard, rather like a fish out of water, and on balance, that may have been a slightly unfair analogy. It is clear that the changes to the conduct of claims following road traffic accidents [...]
Chris Grayling – A Fish out of Water!
When a fish is caught and removed from water, its mouth can be seen to open and close which, to the uninitiated, looks as though the fish is breathing through its mouth. Of course, as we keen fishermen know, the fish breathes through its gills. Water is sucked into the mouth and pushed out through [...]
Marital Agreements – Pre and Post Nuptials
The law relating to Pre (and post) Nuptial agreements in England and Wales is gathering apace and there have been a number of high profile cases which have reached the national news in the past few years. Coupled with the countless number of US sitcoms and dramas on our televisions referring to the “Pre-Nup”, it [...]
Enforcing Maintenance Orders
Scott Young, an allegedly bankrupt businessman, was last week sentenced by the Court to 6 months imprisonment for failing to comply with a Court Order made in divorce proceedings requiring him to disclose his true wealth. Said to be worth £400m, Scott Young was ordered by Mrs Justice Black in 2009 to pay to his [...]
Fuzzy Logic – New Rules for Child Benefit
As of 7th January 2013, Child Benefit payments became dependant on an individual parent’s income and ceased to be a universal welfare payment paid to all parents with the care of a child. This means that people with annual income over a certain level will no longer receive automatic Child Benefit payments. For many parents [...]
Shared Parenting: A New Father’s Perspective
Two things have happened since my blog in June about the proposed changes to legislation on shared parenting. Firstly, my wife gave birth to our first child; and secondly, the Department of Education have introduced the wording for the amendment which provides the legal basis for shared parenting. I must say that a baby really [...]
Gay Marriage or Civil Partnership?
The Government plans to introduce gay marriage before the next election in 2015. A consultation exercise was launched earlier this year setting out the government’s proposals to enable same sex couples to have a civil marriage. The proposals of the consultation included a provision to enable those same sex couples already in a civil partnership [...]
