Ask anyone who has been through the process, and they will likely tell you that claiming child maintenance is not as straight forward as it should be.   In the majority of cases, child maintenance is calculated by reference to a formula decided upon by the government.  Simply put, it requires the paying party to pay the party claiming child maintenance a percentage of their gross income. While this may sound straightforward, it can become difficult once the detail is taken into account such as, who is the paying parent, what income is taken into account, whether the paying pa ..read more

In March 2023 Mr Justice Moor handed down his judgment in MN v AN. The case is interesting for two reasons in particular: firstly, because the agreement was signed before the decision in Radmacher and, secondly, because of the pressure that the Wife contended she felt in relation to signing the agreement and the impact of the same on the agreement in question. Following what is described as having been fairly protracted negotiations, the parties entered into an agreement in June 2005. Importantly for the case which the Wife ran at the Final Hearing, this was some time before the handing dow ..read more

These are unprecedented times.  Never before in our lifetimes has much of society been ordered by the government to stay in their homes with limited exceptions, have schools been closed and our civil liberties been so restricted by the state. For separated parents across the country dealing with child arrangements and coronavirus, such restrictions give rise to obvious issues.  With children not in schools and nurseries, what are working separated parents to do with children during the working day?  And what about when the children are supposed to spend time with the other paren ..read more

Financial disclosure is a fundamental part of most divorce cases.  Divorce financial disclosure must be “full and frank”.  The duty is serious and if breached can have disastrous and far reaching consequences for the non-disclosing party. Divorce financial disclosure obligations Full and frank divorce financial disclosure means that the parties must disclose to each other, and the court, all information which is material to the resolution of the case.  Some married couples each have a full oversight and understanding of their financial position but often this is not the case.&n ..read more

It is uncommon that financial proceedings upon divorce are decided by a judge. In the majority of cases, with the assistance of their legal teams, parties are usually able to reach an agreement between themselves. This is in no small part due to a particular aspect of the court financial proceedings upon divorce called the financial dispute resolution hearing (“the FDR hearing”). What is the FDR hearing? There are largely three stages to financial proceedings upon divorce. The first is to establish what the assets are and how much they worth. In theory, once this is clear, the parties are rea ..read more

Divorce cases often end with the sale of a property. But can one party force a sale of a house during divorce proceedings? For many years it was thought that the court did not have the power under any circumstances to make an interim order for sale. However, the case of BR v VT [2015] EWHC 2727 established that this convention was wrong and in fact the court was able to force the sale of a house during divorce proceedings pursuant to the Married Women’s Property Act 1882 (‘MWPA’), Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (‘TOLATA’) or r.20.2(1)(c)(v) of the Family Procedure Rules. I ..read more

With more couples opting not to get married, and cohabitation the norm before marriage for those who do tie the knot, the number of unmarried couples who live together has been on the rise for some time. Moving in together is of course an exciting time in any relationship but, before picking out furniture, it is important to understand the financial impact of cohabiting. Where a couple is moving into rented accommodation together the potential financial impact of cohabiting is relatively limited. If both parties are named on the tenancy agreement and the utility bills they are likely to be joi ..read more

In cases where there is a significant disparity in earnings between the parties it is likely that there is going to be an element of spousal maintenance.  Unlike with child maintenance, there is no set formula to calculate the appropriate figure.  Instead, it is calculated with reference to the receiving party’s generously interpreted needs. While this exercise is often less than straightforward, the situation becomes even more complex when a significant proportion of the paying party’s income is made up of bonuses, such as in the case of bankers and others in the financial sector. T ..read more