Press reports that prenuptial agreements, and pre-civil partnership agreements are be given legal status is misleading. They work now if properly drafted and the correct procedure is followed. The Supreme Court has already ruled that courts should give effect to pre-nuptial contracts where freely entered into and where it would not be unfair to do so. So if you get the procedure right, time to reflect, full disclosure and independent legal advice, a pre-nup or pre-cip will work. At Hylton-Potts working as a team to keep costs down we can draft a legally binding prenup or pre-cip for £595…
Under Government plans, a claimant or defendant will have to pay higher fees. The bigger the claim, the higher the fees, up to a six-fold increase. Litigants will also pay according to how many days they are in court, so the case drags on they end up paying more. The proposed massive fee rises for those using civil and commercial courts will send a damaging message that the UK regards wealthy litigants as a cash cow. Court Fee increases of up to £20,000 come on top of fees that are already higher than New York. An uncontested divorce fee would…
First published in the solicitors Journal on 28 January 2014 and reproduced here with their kind permission. ‘Clerical error’ given a broad definition including errors arising from routine work Disputed wills should be interpreted using the same rules as those applicable to the interpretation of contracts, the Supreme Court has held in a case involving mirror wills where the spouses signed the other’s will instead of their own by mistake. Distinguishing between a contract and a will on the basis that one was made between several parties and the other by a single party was “an unconvincing reason to adopting…
It takes several weeks for the County Court bailiffs to carry out the eviction, after a County Court possession order. Many lawyers advise that to obtain possession ‘in days’, Landlords should apply for the case to be transferred to the High Court once the possession order has been made, so that a High Court Enforcement Officer can carry out the eviction. The county court has power to transfer a case to the High Court and if proceedings for enforcement are transferred, the order may be enforced as a High Court order, by the far more effective High Court Sheriff. Unlike…
‘Habitual residence’ in is an important issue in an international tug-of-war over where children should live. The Supreme Court ruled, in LC (Children) (No 2), when considering the issue of habitual residence (determined by whether there has been some degree of integration by the child in the social and family environment in the country), regard should be given to child’s state of mind at the relevant time – that is to say, the period she lived abroad. The importance of the issue to secure a finding that the children were habitually resident in England is this. EU entries are bound…
Question: My husband and I both want a divorce and want it to be as amicable as possible. Ideally, we would like to divorce using ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason. We married 4 years ago in Greece, but now live in the UK, so we will divorce here. When I research divorce procedures in the UK, using the internet, it looks like we have four or five reasons we can use. For example, a separation of 2 years or more, adultery…. Some are viable options, but they do not really seem to allow us to divorce amicably. Are my conclusions…
Where a taxpayer feels they have not been treated fairly, there is a way to fight back. Judicial review proceedings can be brought on the grounds of illegality, irrationality or procedural impropriety. They are typically used to challenge “unreasonable” behavior such as a failure by the HMRC to follow its own guidelines or going back on a previous ruling The rules on judicial review applications have been tightened since November 2012 when David Cameron promised to crack down on “time-wasting” caused by the “massive growth industry” in legal challenges to government policy. For that reason expert help is a good…
Question: I split up from my partner about six months ago. At the time, my son was only a few months old. Since then things have been difficult. I do see my son, but my ex-partner does not always stick to the pre-arranged times. This is very worrying, but my most pressing concern comes from the fact that she wants to take my son away for three weeks over Christmas. She will not tell me where she is taking him and I know she is not planning to visit friends or family this Christmas. The way she is behaving does…
Question: I am Indian, by birth, and married in India. My wife and I now both want a divorce, but I live here, and she still lives in India. Ideally, I would like to get my divorce without having to return to India. Is this possible? Our affairs are quite straightforward, there are no issues surrounding children, property or money. Answer: Provided your marriage is legally recognised in the UK, you can end it using the UK court system. You will have to demonstrate that you are domiciled in the UK for the court to have jurisdiction in this matter.…
This was first published by the solicitors Journal on 21 January 2014 and is reproduced with their kind permission They may not prevent acrimonious divorces but pre-nups give future spouses the opportunity to think through some of the likely issues, argues Julia Thackray The Law Commission has been in the process of consulting on specific aspects of the law on matrimonial finance for the last three years and is shortly due to report on the latest element of that consultation. In 2011 the commission consulted on marital property agreements (the ‘pre-nup consultation’) and in 2012 undertook a supplementary consultation on…
