Wife awarded £13m in divorce case as judge criticises husband
March 30th 2026A woman has been awarded just over £13m following a long-running financial dispute with her former husband, a businessman, after a 20-year relationship. Sarah Tweedie, Associate Solicitor in our Family Law team, reports on this recent case. Mr Justin Warshaw KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Family Court, ruled that the settlement should leave the wife with around 43% of the couple’s total wealth, worth more…
Father wins appeal against order allowing his son to be relocated to Cornwall
January 16th 2026A father has successfully appealed a decision that would have allowed his three-year-old son to move to Cornwall, after a High Court judge found the mother’s relocation plan lacked the evidence needed for such a significant change. Sarah Tweedie, Associate Solicitor in our Family Law team, reports on this recent case. Recorder Williams overturned the earlier ruling made in March 2025, concluding that the district judge had been wrong to…
Divorce dispute over husband’s alleged ‘sham £1.6m loan’ to be reheard
January 7th 2026A divorce case in which the husband allegedly arranged a ‘sham £1.6m loan’ as a way of thwarting the wife’s financial remedy claim is to be reheard. Liz Wilson, Senior Associate Solicitor in our Family team, reports on this recent case. The husband said the money had been advanced by his brother’s company and used in part to help buy the family home in London. He argued that the debt reduced the…
Judge criticises parents who secretly monitored children’s movements
October 24th 2025A judge has criticised a father and mother who secretly used tracking equipment to monitor the movements of their children, who were involved in care proceedings. Sarah Tweedie, Associate Solicitor in our Family Law team, reports on this recent case. His Honour Judge Sharpe, sitting in the Family Court, found that devices had been concealed in toys and a bag given to the children by their parents while they were…
Father jailed for breaching court orders in child abduction case
October 7th 2025A father has been sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court after repeatedly failing to comply with orders to return his 11-year-old daughter from Iran to England. Joanne Grey Senior Associate Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. Mrs Justice Lieven, sitting in the High Court’s Family Division, ruled that immediate custody was the only way to secure compliance after what she described as “deliberate and…
Judge orders equal split in £9m divorce, with £897k lump sum to wife
September 23rd 2025The Family Court has ordered an equal division of the couple’s matrimonial assets, leaving each with £3.44m, and requiring the husband to pay the wife a lump sum of £897,092. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our Family Law team reports on this case. The parties, anonymised as OS (wife) and DT (husband), married in 2014, have three children and separated in September 2023 after careers in London’s finance sector. Under…
Husband ‘tried to isolate wife from legal advice’ in £230m divorce
August 12th 2025A High Court judge has found that a wealthy husband deliberately tried to prevent his wife from accessing legal support during their divorce negotiations, contributing to what the court described as an unfair and coercive process. Liz Wilson, Senior Associate Solicitor in our Family team, reports on this recent case. In one of the largest divorce awards ever made by the English courts, Mr Justice Cobb ordered the husband to…
Judge favours divorcing couple’s written agreement in ongoing dispute
July 23rd 2025A Family Court judge has settled a dispute between a divorcing couple who had reached a voluntary financial settlement but then continued to argue over specific details. He said the court should generally favour the contents of the written agreement reached between the parties. Joanne Grey Senior Associate Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. Sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, His Honour Judge Hess was asked to…
Landmark Supreme Court Ruling Clarifies Asset Division in Divorce: Standish v Standish (2025) UKSC 26
July 3rd 2025By Joanne Grey Senior Associate Solicitor in our Family Law team. Yesterday, the UK Supreme Court handed down a long-awaited decision in Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, a case that will shape how courts approach the division of wealth on divorce—particularly where one party enters the marriage with significant pre-acquired assets. The ruling provides crucial clarification on the boundary between matrimonial and non-matrimonial property and narrows the circumstances in…
Cumbrian legal firm named as finalist in four categories at Northern Law Awards
May 16th 2025A Cumbrian legal firm is in the running for four awards in the North of England’s most prestigious law awards. Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, which has seven offices across Cumbria and Northumberland, has four finalists in the upcoming 2025 Northern Law Awards. The firm’s Dispute Resolution, Family Law and Private Client departments have been shortlisted for Team of the Year in their respective categories, while apprentice trainee solicitor Joseph Halvorsen has…
