The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has recently revealed data which shows that the number of divorces between heterosexual couples rose by 18.4%, from 90,871 in 2018 to 107,599 last year. Divorces in same-sex couples in England and Wales has also doubled, from 428 in 2018 to 822 in 2019. ONS has revealed that unreasonable […]

Our blog of 2 October 2018 “Addressing the ‘imbalance’ – Civil Partnerships for heterosexual couples” considered the case of Miss Steinfield and Mr Keidan who embarked on a campaign to give heterosexual couples the same rights as same sex couples to enter into Civil Partnerships. After successfully taking their case all the way to the […]

Justice Secretary David Gauke announced yesterday that the law will be changed to allow couples to divorce on the grounds that the marriage has broken down without having to make accusations of wrongdoing by one party. At present the law is very black and white, leading to a position where, unless there has been a […]

Just when family lawyers thought that we were out of joint-lives maintenance orders, a recent case has brought us back in. In Quan v Bray [2018] EWHC 3558 (Fam) , heard in the latter stages of 2018, Mr Justice Mostyn decided that in the particular circumstances of this case, particularly that the wife would not […]

Theresa May, the Prime Minister has announced today that heterosexual couples in England and Wales will soon have the choice of a Civil Partnership stating that by “extending civil partnerships, we are making sure that all couples, be the same-sex or opposite-sex, are given the same choices in life”. This will provide a significant change […]

Are the government about to reform enforcement measures for family financial orders? The Law Commission has previously published a report recommending various proposals aimed at making it easier to enforce family financial orders. The summary of the Law Commission report can be found here. The aim of the recommendations is to make the enforcement of […]

Today, the Supreme Court (the highest Court in England and Wales) has decided that Mrs Owens has to stay married to her husband. Mrs Owens has been seeking a divorce for 3 years. Mrs Owens’ journey Mr and Mrs Owens married in 1978.  Mrs Owens filed her petition for divorce in May 2015 in which […]

Would you pay your ex money to soften the break up?   There is a new dating trend in China in which people are doing just that. A case full of cash (equivalent to £232,323) was recently found in a bar in China.  It turned out to be a (rather large) break-up fee which a man […]

In February 2017 we posted a blog on the continuation of the battle for heterosexual civil partnerships. Since then, Mr Keidan and Mrs Steinfeld have taken their case to the Supreme Court and have left the judge calling it a ‘blatant inequality’. The Supreme Court has found that the non-availability of civil partnerships for heterosexual couples […]

We commented on the case of Mr and Mrs Versteegh in February of this year regarding the ex-wife awarded £90 million in a divorce settlement who was fighting for more in an appeal against the judgement. On 10 May the Court of Appeal handed down its judgement, dismissing the appeal by Mrs Versteegh. The appeal focussed […]

The Court of Appeal (CoA) yesterday reaffirmed the Court’s more modern approach to spousal maintenance,  championing “clean breaks” between divorcing couples and limiting claims for ongoing spousal maintenance (reports of the story are accessible both here and here). In Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727, the CoA overturned a previous ruling that would have […]

An ex-wife awarded a £90 million settlement in 2014 upon divorcing her property tycoon husband is seeking to argue that she should receive another £25 million – despite having signed a pre-nuptial agreement.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5363469/Wife-signed-pre-nup-says-90m-payout-unfair.htm A pre-nuptial agreement is a contract that seeks to regulate the financial arrangements between two parties to an intended marriage/civil partnership […]