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.