The new government has set out its plan to reduce the budget deficit over the coming years. Amongst its proposals are tweaks to Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit.

The family courts are introducing an option for judges and children to meet during the course of child proceedings.  Until now, Judges have not met children, and a child of sufficient age and understanding has his or her views set out in a “wishes and feelings” report, prepared by a designated Cafcass officer.

The Wife in Miller Smith v Miller Smith (No 2) [2009] EWHC 3623 (Fam) asked the Court to delay finalising her divorce until her financial claims had been decided.  The Court refused her application because, although it does have a discretionary power to delay the final decree of divorce, this should only be used in exceptional circumstances.

In the recent decision in the case of Vaughan v Vaughan [2010] EWCA Civ 349, the Court of Appeal considered the issue of how a current wife's financial claims on divorce should be treated when assessing a former wife's application to vary maintenance arrangements.

The Supreme Court has recently examined the already famous Granatino v. Radmacher case concerning the impact of a German pre-nup in an English divorce. A new step has been recently taken by a French court in giving effect to the terms of an English pre-nup in a French divorce. This case illustrates the differences and similarities hidden behind the term “pre-nup”, and the need for European harmonization of the law.

The recent revisions to the President's Private Law Programme outline new measures which will expedite court applications and the listing of a first hearing in children matters.

There have now been five family cases before the Supreme Court and not one decision of the Court of Appeal has been upheld.

How does your former spouse’s cohabitation with a new partner affect your ongoing obligation to pay him/her maintenance?

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, marriage rates are at their lowest in England and Wales since they were first calculated in 1862.  The provisional marriage rate for men in 2008 was 21.8 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, compared with 22.4 in 2007 and 31.1 in 1998.  The provisional marriage rate for women in 2008 was 19.6 women marrying per 1,000 unmarried women aged 16 and over, compared with 20.2 in 2007 and 26.6 in 1998.

Although the current tax year runs until 5 April, divorcing couples need to bear in mind that the tax advantages they enjoyed while married run out at the end of the year of separation.

The Government has published Support for All: The Families and Relationships Green Paper which has been produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

A recent case in the Court of Appeal has clarified the law in relation to the ability of a third party intervenor to seek a costs order in their favour in ancillary relief proceedings. 

Many couples going through a break up are stuck in the difficult situation of having to share their home together, whilst trying to negotiate a settlement through lawyers, or worse still whilst litigating against each other.

The Law Commission has published a consultation paper reviewing the law of intestacy and family provision on death.

During the summer, Reunite International – the leading UK charity specialising in international parental child abduction and the movement of children across international borders – presented its recent research paper. 

Have you read Leah Snape’s recent sound bite, entitled: “The duty of disclosure in ancillary relief proceedings”? 

This brief note explores what the current issues are, and when and in what form the cavalry may arrive.

It is time we had a completely no fault divorce system.

A businessman ordered to explain the disappearance of his £400 million fortune in ancillary relief proceedings has been given one last chance to provide a full explanation of the precipitous decline in his fortunes by a High Court Judge. 

First, one must recognise and accept whether you need help.  Domestic abuse is not just physical violence. It is also psychological, emotional, sexual and financial abuse. If you are subject to any of these, this is domestic abuse and should not be tolerated.

Do-it-yourself DNA kits to test paternity are now available to purchase on-line. Importantly, both parties must give their written consent for a test.

On 27 April 2009 the media were allowed for the first time to attend many family hearings.  One pressing issue is when it is possible to exclude the media and this article explores three cases where the parties attempted to do so, with varying success. 

Pre- and post-marital agreements have been the subject of much consideration by the courts of England and Wales over the last year. This briefing sets out our advice for wealth protection and takes stock of the current position by looking at the two most important recent court decisions (MacLeod v MacLeod, and Granatino v Radmacher). 

Former wife’s attempt to apply to the court to claim more money from her former husband after his company sold for £3.7 million rather than the £800,000 value that he had placed on it, was blocked by the courts.

Having failed to exclude the media from their court hearing, Earl and Countess Spencer are now negotiating to try to settle their dispute over his fortune.

A recent study suggests that feuding parents who stay together in an unhappy marriage for the benefit of their children are actually doing them more harm than good.

In May 2006 after a long battle through the Court of Appeal and House of Lords, Julia McFarlane was awarded £250,000 per annum from her former husband, Kenneth McFarlane for life (or until re-marriage or further order of the Court) on top of the £20,000 per annum per child by way of child maintenance. 

This question was considered by the High Court recently in the case of G v G.

A woman made an application to the court for financial provision on divorce 22 years after her and her husband separated and was awarded £220,000.

A couple who went through a wedding ceremony in Cape Town have been told that the wedding was not valid and therefore the “wife” was unable to petition for divorce in this country.

Sally Antia, a mother-of-two originally from Liverpool has been sentenced to two months in jail after admitting adultery and now faces deportation from Dubai.  Mark Hawkins, who had previously denied his part in the allegation, was also jailed for two months. 

At the end of April 2009, the law was changed to allow reporters access to the family courts.  Reporters are now entitled to attend most court appointments as long as they are an accredited media reporter.

As of this week the family law courts have opened their doors to the press.   Reporters will now be entitled to attend most court appointments so long as they are an accredited media reporter.  However, this does not mean they will be entitled to rifle through the paperwork nor does it mean that you will necessarily see what they have heard splashed across the front page.

Former World Champion snooker player Shaun Murphy won his first round World Snooker Championship match against Andrew Higginson last week despite being distracted by his estranged wife Clare’s threat to serve him with divorce papers at The Crucible. 

Next week the Court of Appeal will hear a case in which wealthy German heiress  Katrin Radmacher,  who is worth around £100 million, is seeking to enforce a pre-nuptial agreement which will leave her former husband, Nicolas Granatino, with nothing. 

If you have a maintenance order in place, one of the terms may be that each year your maintenance is varied in line with any change in the RPI. 

On 3 March, the lengthily-titled Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Commencement No.1 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2009 ("the Order") was made.  With effect from 6 April 2009, the Order switches on rules introduced by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 ("the 2008 Act").  The 2008 Act makes significant reforms to the 1990 Act of the same name.

If you have read the title of this article and think that this does not apply to you because you already have a Will in place, I suggest that you read on…

Police departments in Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Warwickshire and Cleveland are currently subject to a pilot scheme which allows parents, carers and guardians access to police checks against individuals who have unsupervised contact with their children.

A summary of steps you can take when you have concerns that your spouse may attempt to conceal or dispose of their assets.

Over 50% of people recently surveyed thought that common law marriage still existed. Common law marriage hasn’t existed in England and Wales since 1753.

You and your partner are embarking on new lives which are very separate from each other. But at the same time your children may need the two of you together more than ever.  So how can you avoid a tug of war?  Are you inevitably going to end up arguing it out in front of a Judge?

Mills & Reeve, the national law firm behind www.divorce.co.uk, has won "Private Client Team of the Year" at this year's prestigious annual Legal Business Awards.

As a final twist of the Mills v McCartney litigation, the Court of Appeal confirmed that although family cases are heard in private (so members of the public can not attend) corresponding judgments can be published.

A recent study carried out by Professor Stephen Jenkins, a director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, found that almost without exception, separating women suffer large falls in income in the year following separation but separating men do not.  The study found that in the years following separation the incomes of “separating husbands” rise “immediately and continuously”.  The research has found that, when a man leaves a childless marriage his income rises immediately by 25% on average. 

An American man currently engaged in divorce proceedings has demanded the return of a kidney he donated to his estranged wife or the value of the organ (placed at $1.5million).  

Relate, the UK’s largest provider of relationship support, reported that it had seen a 59% increase in calls over the Christmas period and ChildLine has warned that there is likely to be a sharp increase in the number of children seeking help in dealing with their parents’ separations during the first weeks of the new year. 

Will the Christmas stress coupled with the economic downturn prompt individuals to look for more affordable options in litigation? 

The Local Government Association is forecasting a surge in divorce rates this month as couples succumb to the multiple pressures of Christmas, mortgage arrears and recession.

A recent judgment in the High Court has made it substantially more difficult for courts to open out companies where these contain financial resources needed on divorce. 

The Civil Partnership Act has this month celebrated its third birthday.  The first civil partnerships were registered on 21 December 2005, and the legislation appears to be a considerable success.

Are you approaching your first Christmas after a separation from your spouse? You are probably doing so with some trepidation.

The Centre for Social Justice, chaired by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, has released an interim report into a possible review of family law. 

A court in Salerno, Italy has granted an Italian man a divorce after accepting his claim that his mother-in-law contributed to the breakdown of his marriage.

The national press is littered with articles about the steep costs of divorce and horror stories of people who have spent tens of thousands of pounds for a service that they probably never envisaged they would need.

A red rag to a bull: the importance of full and frank disclosure (an example of how not to upset senior Judges in the Court of Appeal!)

Recent confirmation of Madonna’s intention to divorce Guy Ritchie have stirred discussions about whether or not the couple negotiated a pre-marital agreement (a ‘pre-nup’) before the wedding.  If they did, what effect will it have on the outcome of the divorce?  

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” 

Agreements reached during negotiations are likely to be of such importance that they will take precedence over other factors in later litigation.  That is the key message to come out of the High Court decision in S v S (also known as W v H), handed down recently. 

What happens when there's a dispute between England and Scotland about where to host a divorce?

We are used to hearing tales of wives seeking generous sums of maintenance for themselves and their children, but a recent decision of the Court of Appeal shows that the upkeep of a couple’s pets can also be a significant factor. 

The European Commission has now predicted that Britain will enter a recession (defined as two consecutive months of negative economy growth) during 2008. What effect, if any, will this have on divorces and the financial settlements in divorce proceedings?

When a divorce client tells you that his or her spouse has significant money in assets based overseas, you know that the journey to recover funds within divorce proceedings might well be long and bumpy. 

The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 will be implemented in autumn this year.

Matt Lucas, the comedian best know for Little Britain, has announced that he is splitting up with his civil partner.  

The Law Commission has announced that it is set to examine in what circumstances pre-marital and pre-civil partnership agreements (or pre-nups) should be enforced by the courts. 

If you succumb to the triumph of hope over experience and decide to marry for the second (or subsequent) time, don’t let your rose tinted spectacles affect your better judgement. Take advice on how to protect your hard earned assets - or those hard won in the first divorce!

For many years , scarcely a week has gone by without a report on the failings of the Child Support Agency (CSA) and the  struggle by parents with care to make errant former partners pay regular child maintenance.

Is tying the knot going out of fashion? The figures show it’s certainly on the decline, while divorce remains on the rise.

If you are conducting a family law case in person (without the assistance of a solicitor) you would be wise to take note of recent guidance from Sir Mark Potter, the President of the Family Division.

Resolution has published a booklet which is designed to help parents manage their separation so the interests of their children are prioritised.

Divorcing couples often assume it would automatically be “fair” for their assets (such as their house, pensions, savings etc) to be split equally between them.  However, this is not necessarily the way the family courts see it, a point which was reiterated in the recent case of B v B which came before the Court of Appeal in March 2008.

Few people can have escaped the recent press coverage of this dramatic court case.  For much of that litigation and, importantly, for the final hearing Heather Mills acted in person (i.e. she did not have a solicitor or a barrister representing her). 

Although inevitably the McCartney v Mills case has generated almost unprecedented media interest, there is in fact nothing particularly surprising about it in legal terms.

Last summer it seemed that there was every chance of cohabiting couples gaining similar rights to married couples under landmark proposals from the Law Commission.  However, it now seems this movement has stalled.

The McCartney/Mills decision is eagerly awaited. Mr Justice Bennett is due to hand down his judgment on 17 March and will decide whether to make it public in whole, in part, or not at all. 

The family courts always strive to achieve a clean break when dividing up marital assets following a divorce. However, it is not always possible to do so. Often a wife will receive a share of the capital to provide towards housing and capital needs, together with a share of the husband's income into the future to meet her income needs.

Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills are in the midst of the latest and most sensational "big money" divorce case currently in private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court.

Did you know that the English courts do not have the right to deal with a person’s matrimonial affairs merely because that person is a British citizen or is present in this country?

For most people in England contemplating divorce, proceedings will clearly be issued here. However, where only one of the couple has been living in England for the past year, it may be possible to look elsewhere.

In the recent High Court decision of K v R (2007) the High Court upheld the validity of a Talaq divorce pronounced by the husband in Pakistan, despite the wife knowing nothing about it. 

The tragic death of Shafilea Ahmed has recently been reported in the press, and with it questions of the continuing practice of forced marriages have been raised.

In divorce proceedings between two millionaires, the Court of Appeal has given the green light towards upholding a prenup.

The Court of Appeal decision in Haines v Hill has been handed down.

New research from Michigan State University has shown that divorce is not only bad for you on a personal level but on a global one as well!

Since Cyd Negus, the cohabiting partner of a wealthy deceased tycoon, was awarded a significant slice of his estate by the High Court a couple of weeks ago, there has been much in the news about claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Mills & Reeve, the firm behind Divorce.co.uk, is pleased to announce that the matrimonial teams of Addleshaw Goddard in Leeds and Manchester are joining the family. When the 11 lawyers join Mills & Reeve in just over two months’ time, on 1 February, Mills & Reeve will have 39 lawyers in the family team making it by far the biggest in the country.

The Human Tissues and Embryos Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, states that lesbian couples can be registered as a child’s parents if one gives birth following fertility treatment.

It seems that not a day has passed recently without some sort of speculation on the divorce of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

The issue of confidentiality on divorce has come to the fore once more in the scrappy separation of Mills and McCartney.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published an analysis of six years of government data on families.

What do Brad and Angelina share in common with Tony and Cherie, and Jordan and Peter? Yes, you've guessed it, these couples all met while at work.

Anne Robinson, the acerbic host of BBC’s The weakest link, has made a statement revealing that she is to divorce her husband of 27 years.

A Cumbria court has handed down a suspended jail sentence to 42-year-old Kevin Quinn after he attempted to get married for a third time and the registrar became suspicious.

Jane Felix-Browne, the British grandmother who had a holiday romance with Omar Bin Laden (aged 27) leading to a whirlwind marriage seven months later, has announced that they are to divorce in order to counter death threats made against them.

The most recent statistics for the number of divorces in England and Wales show that there were fewer divorces in 2005 than in 2004 and that marriages are, on average, lasting slightly longer before divorce occurs.

A committee of MEPs has started looking closely at proposals from the EU Commission to clarify European divorce laws in relation to couples from different member states.

Mills & Reeve Birmingham partners Marc Saunderson and Matthew Hansell spoke at the conference of the M5 group in Oxford on Friday, 5 October on the subject of asset protection and trusts in divorce.