The recent decision from the Court of appeal, which upheld the original judgement by Judge Tolson QC, has created a huge amount of uncertainty for those seeking a divorce. Judge Tolson’s original decision to dismiss Tini Owens’ petition for a divorce effectively said to Mrs Owens’ that her husband’s alleged behaviour was not so severe that she could not be ‘reasonably expected to live with [him]’.The Court of Appeal judgement contained some of the details of the examples used by Mrs Owens in her divorce petition, as well as her later amended petition. What was surprising about the examples was…

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed today (21/4/17) that the proposals for increasing the application fee for a Grant of Probate have been shelved.Following the announcement of a snap election for June 8 2017, the lack of parliamentary time left to deal with outstanding matters before dissolving in early May means the introduction of the controversial fees will be halted. In order to implement the new system of fees lawfully the MOJ requires the approval of both parliamentary houses. The new rates were originally to be considered in parliament after Easter, but this will not happen now.The Proposal to increase…

The recent case of Briers v Briers [2017] EWCA Civ 15 concerned a woman who was successful in obtaining a share of the wealth her former husband had accrued after their divorce.Although the couple had been divorced for many years and agreed an informal settlement at the time, no financial consent order or other formal and legally binding agreement or court order was obtained at the time. This then meant that Mrs Briers could apply to the Family Court for a financial order some 10 years after the divorce was finalised. The detailThe two parties married in 1984, separated in…

New punishments introduced this week for drivers caught speeding in England and Wales have provoked a mixed reaction among police, press, speeding fine solicitors, motorists, and road safety groupsAlthough road safety groups have welcomed the new guidelines, some police officers and press commentators have expressed concern that the new regime will only increase the burden on the courts system. “By increasing the fines the likelihood is that people will think ‘hang on, I am going to make sure 100 per cent that the evidence stands up to scrutiny’ and challenge it in court,” Tim Rogers, Police Federation lead on pursuit…

In a recent case – T (A Child) [2017] EWFC 19 – Mr Justice Holman highlighted the previously unrecognised value of Facebook as a tool for tracing birth parents. The case involved the adoption application of a young boy; his birth father was aware of the proceedings and present in court, but the child’s birth mother had not been made aware of the proceedings as she’s a foreign national and was believed to be living abroad somewhere.However, the birth mother was traced just a few days prior to the hearing by way of a very simple search of profiles on…

Finalising your divorce can be a difficult, but also an exciting time, However, before you start planning the rest of your life, there are a few matters to take care of before you can well and truly move on from your previous marriage. 1 – Make a new Will. Your old Will should be changed if it refers to your former spouse, although any bequest to a former spouse will now automatically fail unless the Will makes it clear the provision is to last after decree absolute. Please also remember that if you remarry, any Will made before remarriage will…

However you want to characterise it, if we are indeed in the post-truth age or the era of “alternative facts” it is likely that it would be, by definition, so confusing a state of affairs that we would be unable to tell. But the sheer brazenness of the government‘s budget announcing a May 1st hike in Grant of Probate “court fee” does feel indicative of a huge disconnect between policy and reality, and as such is couched in suitably misleading language. But make no mistake it is a tax on death that strikes right to the heart of families, their…

If you have children or grandchildren and see them easily navigating their way across multiple digital devices – whether laptops, smartphones, tablets, PCs, smart televisions or game consoles – it’s unlikely to come as a surprise to you to learn that just about every single facet of human life is in the process of being disrupted by technology. And, yes, this includes all areas surrounding those twin certainties: death and taxes.In fact, so inevitable is this disruption that we should no longer even be asking the question of whether it is going to make things better or worse. Instead, we…

 In the wake of Brexit, everyone knows that the political world has been in uproar. So much is happening that the spotlight is, understandably, firmly fixed on those entering and exiting the key political roles. But this huge change doesn’t just affect politics; what about the further layer upon layer of repercussions resulting from the UK’s exit from the EU?Sadly, some malignant, unseen forces are now at work, taking advantage of the chaos and, unfortunately for the UK, this means that cybercrime is on the rise. If Brexit could be encapsulated in one word, it would be uncertainty and there…

In the business world, the law of commerce underpins all commercial dealings. Commerce lies at the heart of a democratic society and having effective legal recourse when things don’t go to plan is essential. However, the established model for facilitating this needs to change and law firms must bear the brunt.There’s currently a very real dichotomy between supply and demand. Availability, cost, and accessibility are the three key watchwords and the Legal Services Consumer Panel has taken the unprecedented step of recommending regulatory intervention after figures showed that just 17% of law firms are being transparent about their fees by…