Emergency Alert

On Sunday 23 April 2023, the government will be testing their new emergency alert systems and everybody will get an alert.   The alarm will go off even if it is on silent with notifications disabled. That does not sound like much of a problem at first glance; people are always getting notifications on their mobile…

Cohabiting couples and “common law marriage” – time for reform of the law?

For some time, there have been calls for reform in relation to the rights of cohabiting couples but as far as the Government is concerned, the time is not right for such reform. The Government has recently rejected a number of recommendations made by the House of Commons ‘Women and Equalities Committee’ for reform as…

MAFS UK – Love bombs and Coercive Control

Anyone watching Married at First Sight UK will be amazed at the lengths people will go to find love. However it doesn’t always seem to work out in the programme which is referred to as an “experiment”. It has been reported that in one coupling, one party has been accused by former partners of “love…

The Impact of No Fault Divorce

On the 6 April 2022 Family Law saw one of the biggest shake ups for decades. This was the introduction of “No Fault Divorce”.  Under the previous law in order to obtain a divorce you had to demonstrate that the marriage had irretrievably broken down and in order to do so you had to confirm…

Some welcome news for victims of domestic abuse

For many victims of domestic abuse the thought of having to give evidence in court can be very harrowing indeed. This coupled with the fact that the very person who subjected them to the abuse can cross examine them on their evidence can be enough to deter victims from coming forward. From 21 July 2022…

New no-fault divorce rules could increase the time to end relationships

There is just under a month to go until the Government’s Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will come into force on 6 April 2022. It will finally end the need to apportion blame to one of the parties involved and is designed to reduce animosity through its new no-fault approach. Under the current rules,…

‘A Very British Scandal’: How can you avoid a bitter divorce battle?

In our previous article we looked at the background to the explosive 1963 divorce case fought between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, recently bought back to the fore by the BBC mini-series ‘A Very British Scandal’. In this, our second blog on the matter, we delve a little deeper into the battle itself. The tactics,…

An early Christmas present for Princess Haya

I was hoping to produce an article full of festive cheer, to get everyone in the Christmas spirit but then the news broke of the High Court’s decision in Princess Haya’s divorce; and, well the best I could do was to link the settlement to an early Christmas present. Of course I say this in…