Mediation Voucher Scheme extended to support more families
A new government mediation voucher scheme has been extended to help separating parents resolve disputes without taking them through the courts and is set to help many more families deal with the difficult issues that separation and divorce can create.
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Bereavement Support Payments to be extended to cohabiting parents
The bereavement of a long-term partner or spouse is difficult enough, without worrying about finances on top of everything else. Until very recently, unless you were married, or in a civil partnership, a surviving partner was unable to claim any extra financial support following a bereavement.
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What happens to pets in a divorce?
We are a nation of animal lovers, and since the pandemic, more families have decided to buy a pet. A total of 3.2 million UK households have acquired a pet since March 2020, according to the Pet Food Manufacturers’
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More protections for victims of domestic abuse
The Domestic Abuse Bill has now received Royal Assent – four years after it was included in the Queen’s speech – and was signed into law on 29 April 2021. The new Bill has been widely welcomed, as it creates a new,
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Capitalisation of Child Maintenance
Capitalisation of child maintenance payments does not happen very often; in fact it was described as ‘a rare bird’ in a recent case. The jurisdiction to make an order that capitalises and replaces future payments of periodical payments in favour of a child,
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Breaking up the family assets when a marriage breaks down
There’s a certain amount of confusion surrounding what happens to a family’s assets when a couple divorces – especially the marital home. Although in many cases a couple can come to an amicable agreement about what should happen to the things that they owned as a married couple,
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Can a child have a vaccination against a parent’s wishes?
A recent appeal heard at the High Court of Justice Family Division considered the procedure when a routine childhood vaccination is opposed by one or both parents, and found that, at least in these circumstances – yes,
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Final report received from family courts working group
The final report from the working group set up by the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, to look at the issues around medical experts in the family courts has now been published.
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The relocation of a child – when a parent moves abroad
When parents separate, it’s not uncommon for one of them to want to move away from the area where they resided with the other. In some cases, this may involve moving the child(ren) of the family to another country,
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No Fault Divorce Bill receives Royal assent
When a marriage breaks down, the parties involved are often driven to blame each other for the breakdown of the relationship in order to achieve a divorce more quickly. It has also been assumed that blaming the other spouse may lead to a better financial settlement or a more favourable agreement over the children.
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