The voices of children will always be heard by family judges in care proceedings, but they are not always decisive and can be outweighed by other factors. In one case, a boy’s vociferous wish to live in England with his mother was overruled by a judge who found that his best interests lay in returning to Ireland to live with his paternal family. The boy was aged nine when his parents separated. Due to the mother’s chaotic lifestyle and mental health problems, a court directed that he should be cared for in Ireland by his father and paternal grandparents. However,…
Divorce cases involving the very rich are over-represented in court reports for the simple reason that where the family is very wealthy, the costs of arguing over the division of the assets are deemed to be worth incurring, which may not be the case for families with much more modest assets. However, the legal principles that apply are the same in all cases. In a recent case, a man’s ex-wife sought a divorce settlement of some £29 million against his offer of £8 million. The husband had brought very substantial inherited wealth into the marriage and it was agreed that…
The breakdown of a relationship is sadly often accompanied by dispute over the ownership of once shared possessions. However, one High Court case vividly shows why it is nearly always sensible to seek compromise with the benefit of legal advice, rather than resort to costly litigation. A wealthy same-sex couple had never formalised their 15-year relationship, but both viewed it as akin to marriage. Together they had achieved considerable financial success, establishing a substantial property portfolio and a lucrative chain of tanning salons. Following the acrimonious parting of their ways, however, they could not agree on who owned what. Title…
Cohabitation without a living together or cohabitation agreement is a common source of legal dispute when a relationship breaks up, as a recent case involving a very wealthy businessman and his ex-girlfriend shows. When the couple split up, the businessman claimed that the house in which his ex-girlfriend lived was held on trust for him, despite the fact that his name was not on the deeds. He had paid the £100,000 deposit on the £650,000 house, the costs of its purchase and all the instalments on the mortgage. However, the property was in his ex-girlfriend’s sole name and the First-tier…
Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of reporting around the planned child tax credit changes, and the protests by Scottish SNP MP, Alison Thewliss, about their “medieval” nature. However, when looking at the details behind the proposals, it’s unsurprising that the Government and George Osbourne are attracting such a lot of negative attention. The changes surround eligibility for child tax credits, which will see a two-child limit placed on parents in terms of how many children they are able to claim for. At Hylton-Potts, we handle queries from families on a daily basis who have…
There have been many stories in the news recently about the Universal Credit reform and what it means for the millions of families across Britain. Here at Hylton-Potts, we’ve written numerous posts too, to try to help you understand the facts and guide you through the claims process. However, recently the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published its first annual fraud and error findings for its Universal Credit programme. This critique forms part of their more general report on the benefits system across the 2015/16 period. We thought, given the attention that this reform has received, that we’d…
An article the solicitors Journal www.solicitorsjournal.com on 19 April 2016 is well worth a look The judges are moving away from a needs only approach to deciding spousal maintenance. The judge must to consider whether a ‘clean break’ can be achieved, and no spousal maintenance is paid (child maintenance is dealt with separately). If the judge decides to make a maintenance order, he must consider imposing a term sufficient to allow the financially weaker party to reach financial independence without ‘undue hardship’. The cases of Miller and McFarlane created the three guiding principles of ‘needs’, ‘compensation’, and ‘sharing’ in determining …
Undergoing a divorce can be upsetting and stressful, but it is often made worse when you don’t know the facts and aren’t prepared for what’s to come. If you want to make sure you’re in as strong a financial position as possible after your divorce is over, then it is imperative that you consider the following three questions. It’s important to remember throughout divorce proceedings though, that communication is vital. If you and your spouse can agree on some of these questions in advance, then the process itself will likely be less painful and complex. Financial expert and Editor of…
If you’re a regular reader of the Hylton-Potts blog, you’ll know how important it is to us that we keep you up to date on the latest changes to the law when it comes to your benefits and tax credits. Our experts are always on hand to give you the help and advice you need, but in today’s post, we think it our duty to inform you about the recent claims being made about Universal Credits. Recently, the government launched its newly reformed version of the six social security payments: income support, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, housing benefit,…
The date of the British referendum that will decide whether the UK stays within the EU or leaves, is drawing ever closer. Brexit, as it has been dubbed by popular media, continues to worry and confuse professionals wanting to head to the UK for work, which is why we’re here to explain things simply for you. At Hylton-Potts, we completely understand how difficult it can be to get to grips with the ins and outs of EC Rights within the ever-changing context of the current Brexit situation. However, in today’s blog post, we’d like to explain to you exactly why…
