Unmarried Couples and Children

Any cohabiting couple needs to be aware that if they intend to have children and are not married, only the mother will automatically have parental responsibility.

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COMMENT

Local Authorities Fined for Not Protecting Information regarding Children

The Information Commissioners Office has fined two Councils for failing to keep very sensitive information about the welfare of children secure. Fines totalling £180,000 were imposed against Croydon Council and Norfolk County Council. These fines illustrate the consequences for failing …

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COMMENT

Social Media Sites and Adopted Children

Social media sites such as Facebook are now more popular than ever and are having a significant impact upon adoption.    The existence of such sites has led to an increase in breach of guidelines against unplanned contact to adopted children …

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COMMENT

As Economic Downturn Continues Divorces Increase

Numbers released by the Office For National Statistics earlier this week indicate that the divorce rate has increased for the first time in nearly a decade.  2010 saw an increase of 4.9% as divorces increased from 113,949 in 2009 to …

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COMMENT

Self-help Disclosure in Family proceedings

The High Court has severely reprimanded a wife in divorce proceedings for hacking into her former husband’s computer and stealing some 20,000 documents from him. Whilst her behaviour was condemned however, the judge explained to Vivian Imerman, the former owner …

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COMMENT

Injunction Misconceptions

Dennis Hopper, the US actor, has obtained an order requiring his wife to stay at least three metres away from him claiming that she has engaged in “outrageous conduct” during the last year.  The reason given by Hopper for his …

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COMMENT

Divorce and Jurisdiction: French Divorce Proceedings and Pension Sharing

An English wife has been denied a share of her husband’s lucrative pension scheme because they were living in France at the time their marriage broke down. The couple married in Wales, lived in the UK for nine years and were …

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COMMENT

The Law on a Parent Relocating Abroad and Maintaining Contact with Children

For some years there have been mumblings in judicial quarters about the current case law surrounding how a Court approaches the issue of a parent who wishes to leave England and Wales and relocate elsewhere. The current leading case of …

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COMMENT

Pension Sharing Orders against NHS and Local Government Pension Schemes

We have previously commented on the change in the payment date for ex-spouses benefiting from a pension sharing order (PSO) against the Armed Forces Pensions Scheme. This principle has also been extended to those benefiting from PSOs made against the …

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COMMENT

Child Maintenance : An Unknown Quantity?

Inevitably, when parents separate there are a number of issues that need to be considered, both in the long and short-term.  One of the long-term issues to be considered is child maintenance – something that people often need some guidance …

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COMMENT