Girl can remain in UK with mother despite order from French Court
October 12th 2022To enforce an order from a French court to relocate a five-year-old girl from her mother in England to live with her father in France would be draconian, the English Court of Appeal has ruled. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our family law team reports. The girl was born in France in 2016; two years later her mother and father separated. In February 2019, the French High Court gave the mother…
Government urged to provide better protection for cohabiting couples
September 8th 2022The government is being urged to introduce reforms to provide better legal protection for cohabiting couples if their relationship breaks down. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our family law team reports. The number of cohabiting couples has more than doubled in the past generation with 1.5m in 1996, compared to 3.6m in 2021. Do cohabiting couples have rights The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee says there is a…
Judge urges couples to use £500 mediation voucher scheme
July 18th 2022One of the UK’s leading judges has urged divorcing couples to use the £500 voucher that enables them to access mediation services to settle difficult disagreements. Shannon Bateson, Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, made the suggestion in a complicated case involving a couple who had separated in 2017. The father had regular unsupervised contact with the three children until…
Legal firm welcomes back former trainee to Family Law team
June 27th 2022AN EXPERIENCED Family Law solicitor has returned to the law firm where she completed her training and student placement. Shannon Bateson has rejoined Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors as a fully-fledged Family Law solicitor, dealing with all aspects of marital law, divorce, children, cohabitation and domestic violence. Shannon, who lives at Brigham, near Cockermouth, originally joined the legal firm on an 18-month training contract in 2017 following the successful completion of an…
Surge in divorce cases as new No-Fault law takes effect
June 16th 2022There has been a surge in the number of divorce applications since the new No-Fault law came into effect in April. Julian Nelson, Director in our Family Law Team provides an update. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 aims to reduce the potential for conflict amongst divorcing couples by removing the ability to make allegations about the conduct of a spouse and allowing couples to end their marriage jointly. Under previous…
Court rules it’s unsafe to return child to violent father
June 6th 2022The High Court has ruled that a nine-year-old girl should be allowed to stay with her mother and not be returned to her violent father. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our family law team reports on this recent case. The mother alleged that the relationship was significantly blighted by physical, emotional and sexual domestic abuse. The case involved a couple who had lived together with their daughter in…
Court settles dispute between cohabitants over home ownership
May 16th 2022The High Court has settled a dispute between a cohabiting couple over who should own the home they had shared until they split up. Shannon Bateson, Solicitor in our family law team reports on this recent case. The couple, Mr Lee Hudson and Ms Jayne Hathway, had purchased their home in joint names. They both worked and paid their respective salaries into a joint account. Over time, Hudson’s earnings overtook Hathway’s…
Woman can have biological father named on birth certificate
March 24th 2022A woman has been granted the right to amend her birth certificate so that her biological father’s name appears instead of her mother’s husband at the time. Amy Fallows Senior Associate Solicitor & Head of our family law team reports on this recent case. The woman applied for a declaration of parentage under the Family Law Act 1986. She was born in England in 1960. Her mother was from an Orthodox Jewish…
Changes to divorce law will come into effect in April 2022
March 3rd 2022Changes to divorce law will come into effect from 6th April 2022. The government is also introducing a new online service to help couples adapt to the changes. Julian Nelson, Director in our Family Law Team provides an update. Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 reforms the legal requirements and process for divorce. The act aims to reduce the potential for conflict amongst…
One in five couples now start married life with a prenup
October 6th 2021There’s been a large rise in the number of married couples using ‘prenups’ over the last 20 years, according to a new survey. Taylor Chanter Solicitor in our Family department reports. The survey, carried out by Savanta ComRes for the Marriage Foundation, found that one in five couples married since 2000 have some form of a pre-nuptial agreement in place. This compared to just 1.5% who were married in the…
