Article Category: Insight & Opinion

A recent survey (see Telegraph article here) has shown that wives who had pre-wedding doubts are two and a half times more likely to be divorced 4 years later than those who didn’t have any doubts. And that whilst men are more likely to have doubts before a wedding than women – it’s the women’s… Read more »

When tenants are negotiating leases of business premises we always recommend that they should insist on at least one break clause in their new lease. A break clause will enable you to vacate your business premises without the fear of any long term financial commitment, if your business fails or you are unable to transfer… Read more »

According to recently released statistics arising from the recent census, cohabiting couples who are unmarried are now as likely to have children as those who marry. There has been an increase of 34% in cohabitees with children. Unfortunately statistics also show that these relationships are more likely to break down than if they were married. The… Read more »

New laws that came into force on 30 June 2012 will eventually require all UK employers to automatically enrol eligible workers into a pension scheme and make mandatory minimum contributions on their behalf. The reforms are being implemented gradually starting on 1 October 2012, and although many employers will not become subject to the new… Read more »

It may sound like stating the proverbial obvious but if you leave serving or responding to a claim in litigation to the last minute, then you are not maximising your prospects, you increase the risk of not achieving your desired outcome and of making a very costly error. The recent case of Ener-G Holdings Plc… Read more »

The Co-op’s proposal, announced this week, is to provide family legal services via a national telephone line, combined with a pack of forms to complete. Only if you are in London will you have the option of meeting an advisor face to face. This has left me, as a family lawyer, asking myself if this… Read more »

A hot topic at the moment is ‘shared parenting’ and whether legislation should be amended to include the following:- ‘the welfare of the child concerned will be furthered by involvement in the child’s upbringing of each parent of the child who can be involved in a way not adverse to the child’s safety’. The above… Read more »

An Italian woman who signed a ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ contract promising total sexual and mental submission to her husband, is now divorcing him citing mistreatment after seven years of slavery. The woman signed the explicitly worded contract with her then boyfriend in 2004. They married in 2006 and separated last year. The woman has… Read more »

The law around “protected conversations”: This Government, even more than its predecessors, is trying to find ways to reduce the number of Employment Tribunal claims.  It has included within the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill a clause to allow the use of “settlement agreements”.  These are agreements which can be reached after “protected conversations” have… Read more »

Hit TV drama Dallas is returning to our screens this week, two decades after we last saw JR and the others! Many of us of a certain age will remember the series as one of the most entertaining TV programmes of the 80’s, with larger than life characters and totally dysfunctional families. No doubt there… Read more »