Blame free divorce on the way?

Currently in the UK in order to get a divorce you either have to have been living apart for two years, or there has to be fault.  The fault can be ‘unreasonable behaviour’ or ‘adultery’

Now it is being suggested, in a manifesto put forward by Resolution (the organisation representing family lawyers) that blame-free divorces should be introduced, paving the way for a more harmonious divorce process.

The Resolution paper calls for six areas of change in all:

• Blame free divorce so that the parties can just agree to divorce.
• A parenting charter - making it clear what separating couples need to do to keep children protected in the time of the divorce or separation.
• For families to receive the support they need following Legal Aid cuts and changes to service providers like the CMS.
• Helping people understand how divorce will affect their finances in the future.
• Making mediation more widely available to enable couples to avoid court.
• Free initial advice to those separating.

You’ll have noticed, from my recent posts, that we are ahead of the manifesto in that we already offer free initial advice in separation (and childcare) cases.  Simply email me or check out our website for more information.

In the future maybe all divorces can be less fraught, more amicable, and distinctly civilised!

Judge stresses need for representation in emotive cases

In a recent case at Medway Family Court, Her Honour Judge Hammerton has said that the absence of legal aid funding had ‘undoubtedly’ placed the father at a disadvantage.

She also highlighted the emotional pressures on self-represented litigants and that if they continued unrepresented they might behave in ways they could later regret as feelings ran high.

The father had been denied Legal Aid funding (following the cuts two years ago) and was seeking to discharge a care order over his 12 year old son.

Another interesting fact to emerge from this case was that it was listed for a three-day hearing, the Judge having noticed that each previous hearing had significantly overrun its allotted time.  This can often happen in cases with litigants in person as further explanations are required and those litigants may not be as succinct as a lawyer could be.

In the event, in this particular case, a Good Samaritan lawyer stepped in to represent the father free of charge, and the proceedings were dealt with in just half a day.

If you find yourself unable to afford a lawyer and facing proceedings in court, there are two ways we can help you:

Firstly, we offer a free advice clinic - for matters around divorce, separation, children, finances and civil partnerships.  This runs on Thursdays in our Cowbridge office from 2-5pm.  If you would like to find out how we can help you with free advice, please email me.

Secondly, we offer an advocacy service where we attend you at court - you can simply pay a fixed rate for one of our experienced advocacy solicitors to accompany you to Court and speak on your behalf.  For further details, have a look at our web site, or email me.

Labour makes a commitment to review the Child Maintenance Service

It can't have escaped your attention that there is a General Election looming.  Labour (if it wins) has pledged to review the way the Child Maintenance Service is working.

Child maintenance is financial support towards your child’s everyday living costs when you’ve separated from the other parent.  You and your ex-partner can arrange child maintenance yourself if you can agree. This is called a ‘family-based arrangement’, it is a private way to sort out child maintenance with the parents arranging everything themselves and where no-one else has to be involved.  The Child Maintenance Service is for when you and the other parent can’t agree to a family-based arrangement.

Gingerbread, which offers advice to and campaigns for single parents, has welcomed Labour's pledge.

Gingerbread Chief Executive Fiona Weir said:

"We welcome Labour's commitment to carry out an immediate review of the new Child Maintenance Service and its system of charging.

"Getting regular child maintenance payments can make a huge difference to children, but less than half of separated families have any arrangement in place."

Child maintenance is something that we are involved in through our Family Department.  If you have any concerns or worries in this area, do please get in touch with us.  Remember that we offer FREE advice in our weekly clinics on Thursdays in Cowbridge, so you can just come and pick our brains.  Give us a ring on 01446 774151 to reserve your place in the clinic, or email me