Recently in Family Law Category

In a week when divorce law has been in the news a considerable amount, experts have spoken up to promote the place of mediation in modern separations.

It seems that the Government is listening, as this week it announced plans to double the current £10m annual budget for publicly funded mediation services.

Divorce has been in the news this week after the Government announced plans to change the law relating to the custody arrangements for couples after a divorce. The proposals would see the Children's Act amended to include some form of a presumption of equal parenting. This would see fathers, who at present are often marginalised in contact agreements, given additional access to their children.

The author of a key report into family law has spoken out to criticise recent Government proposals for a change in the law on access to children for fathers after divorce. David Norgrove's report which was published before Christmas, recommended that there be no change in the existing law.

The controversy concerns the issue of access to children for parents after a divorce hearing.

At present courts generally award custody to the mother in the majority of cases. Fathers are then left to organise access, which is typically for a set amount of time on a regular basis. This has been criticised as leaving many children growing up without a father.

The Children's Act 1989 is to be amended by the Government in a move designed to ensure that divorced fathers get to spend more time with their children.

A ministerial group is working on a plan which may include a "presumption of shared parenting" as part of the amendments.

The proposed changes are part of an overhaul in family law which is being described by the Law Society as one of the "most important" legal changes in more than 20 years.

A senior Labour politician has raised the controversial issue of smacking children, saying it is both necessary and right.

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham has been criticised for suggesting that working class parents need the ability to discipline their children at home without fear of prosecution.

Mr Lammy had caused controversy by suggesting that last summer's riots were caused by parents' inability to smack their children when disciplining them.

Scientists have secured a £6m funding grant to investigate a new technique for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) which could revolutionise the passing of hereditary diseases.

The technique involves using genetic material from a third donor, in order to help remove hereditary heart, muscle or brain conditions which could be passed from parents to the newborn child.

The method is not without its critics, who argue that the involvement of a third person's DNA into a donor egg would mean that the baby would inherit a tiny part of their genetic code from a third human being.

Ministers are drawing up new plans which could see divorced parents given a legal right to see their children.

Under the proposals, family courts will be obliged to ensure that both parents are given access to children as part of any divorce settlement. Parents who continue to refuse access would be held in contempt of court, and could face hefty fines or even jail.

Under the law as it stands, the family courts award custody rights to mothers in the vast majority of divorce cases. Access for fathers is often patchy, with mothers effectively holding all the cards.

A couple who split up nearly 20 years ago have finally had their property dispute settled at the Supreme Court, with the ruling being made in the woman's favour.

Patricia Jones and her ex-partner Leonard Kernott had bought a house together in 1985 in joint names and with a joint mortgage.

The couple lived there for eight years before they separated. Then Mr Kernott moved out and left Ms Jones to pay the mortgage and upkeep of the house, as well as looking after their two children.

Pyrros Vardinoyannis, a millionaire shipping tycoon, tried to prevent his wife Elizabeth from pursuing a divorce through the British courts, which are known for awarding generous settlements.

The couple, who originally met in St Tropez in 2001, led a jet setting lifestyle described by High Court Judge Peter Jackson as "a protracted modern version of the 18th Century Grand Tour".

Since last April, the couple began to drift apart and Mr Vardinoyannis claims that since his wife spent a great deal of the last year abroad, she should not be allowed to pursue a divorce in the UK. He attempted to stop her legal action taking place in the 'divorce' and started his own divorce proceedings in Greece.

When you're in love and getting married, you tend not to think about things like divorce, division of assets and protecting your own interests: it's just not very romantic. But a recent High Court ruling in a divorce settlement may encourage people to think more carefully about keeping their assets separate from their partners.

The case involved a hotel porter who was suing for a share of his ex-wife's £500,000 lottery prize, which she had won more than ten years ago with a ticket bought with her own money and without his knowledge.

At the time, the couple were living in a council house with their two children and they decided to spend her windfall on a new £275,000 family home in London, where they lived together for another three years before their marriage fell apart.

This weekend (24 and 25 September) Matt O'Connor, the founder of the group Fathers 4 Justice, along with many other disenfranchised fathers will protest outside Buckingham Palace by holding a hunger strike.

The protest is a continuation of the hunger strike held outside the home of Prime Minister David Cameron in Oxfordshire, in July 2011, which was prompted by Mr Cameron's comments on Fathers Day.

On that day, Mr Cameron said that "its high time runaway dads were stigmatised, and the full force of shame was heaped upon them. They should be looked at like drink drivers, people who are beyond the pale."

A 73-year-old woman from British Columbia, Canada is suing her adult children for parental support, despite them claiming that she abandoned them over 30 years ago.

Shirley Anderson began her claim nearly 12 years ago under section 90 of the B.C. Family Relations Act. The Act ensures that adult children must legally support parents "dependent on a child because of age, illness, infirmity or economic circumstances".

Her son Kevin Anderson, 47, is fighting his mother's claim for $750 (£486) a month as he claims that she moved away and left him and his siblings to fend for themselves when he was 15 years old.

For years gay couples have campaigned for the right to have legally recognised marriages but currently same-sex couples are only permitted to enter civil partnerships, which despite offering the same legal treatment for most matters, does not allow the union to be referred to as a marriage.

Campaigners argue that denying same-sex couples the same privileges and rights as other couples is "homophobic discrimination".

But early next year, the Government will hold a consultation on changing the laws for same-sex couples.

A millionaire hedge-fund manager will soon have to pay the most expensive settlement in the history of UK divorces.

Pierre Lagrange, who runs GLG Partners, split from his wife last year after revealing that he is gay. He has since become involved with fashion designer Roubi L'Roubi.

Mr Lagrange's fortune is said to be worth around £300 million, since as well as being successful in hedge-fund managing, he also invested in high-grossing films such as Kick-Ass and Avatar. Pierre Lagrange has had to start selling off assets, such as his Kensington home, to pay the £150 million settlement.

While most parents are willing to care for their children financially, there are some who try to avoid paying child support and the Child Support Agency has revealed some of the worst excuses.

One maintenance-dodging father was a footballer, earning £4,000 a week. He claimed he couldn't pay child maintenance because he had to pay for the upkeep of his Ferrari.

Another responsibility-shirking father complained that he had forked out for his ex-partner's cosmetic surgery. He said: "I paid for her breast enhancement and her new boyfriend is getting the benefit. I'm not paying child maintenance on top."

Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has claimed that organisations which offer counselling before abortion services are bound to offer biased advice to pregnant women, since the organisations make money through abortions.

Last year abortion providers Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service carried out around 100,000 abortions and received around £60 million, largely through the NHS.

Mrs Dorries believes that counselling from abortion providers must be biased since they have a vested interested in carrying out terminations.