- Lizzie Smith

2 months ago | stephens-scown.co.uk | - Lizzie Smith |Lizzie Smith

In December 2024, the Law Commission of England and Wales published a long-awaited report entitled  “Financial remedies on divorce and dissolution: A scoping report”. A copy of the report can be found here. The Government committed to reviewing the law on financial orders on divorce and following the dissolution of civil partnerships back in 2020, with the Law Commission starting work on the review in 2023.

2 months ago | stephens-scown.co.uk | - Lizzie Smith |Lizzie Smith

Family Mediation Week, set up by the Family Mediation Council, runs from Monday 27 to Friday 31 January 2025. The awareness week puts mediation in the spotlight, and is a chance for all those practicing in family law to raise awareness of the numerous benefits of mediation, both to fellow family law practitioners and also to clients and the public alike.

Jan 20, 2025 | stephens-scown.co.uk | - Lizzie Smith |Lizzie Smith

Recent research conducted on behalf of Handelsbanken Wealth and Asset Management, highlights that 89% of 35-54 year old did not enter into a prenup prior to marriage. This figure rose to 99% of all couples aged over 55. Interestingly, nuptial agreements were more common amongst younger couples tying the knot. A link to this report can be found here. Given reports by many family law solicitors that prenup and postnup agreements are increasingly popular, these figures are perhaps surprising.

Jan 16, 2025 | stephens-scown.co.uk | - Lizzie Smith |Lizzie Smith

As discussed in my article “Changes to family law rules to encourage Non Court Dispute Resolution” the Family Procedure Rules were updated last April, placing greater emphasis on alternatives to Court. What is Non-Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR)? NCDR is essentially any method of dispute resolution which does not involve the court.

May 1, 2024 | stephens-scown.co.uk | - Lizzie Smith |Lizzie Smith

Before you can ask the court in a particular country to do something, such as deal with an application for divorce, you must first check that it has jurisdiction to do so. In addition to jurisdiction, it is also important to consider whether England & Wales would be the most appropriate place (“forum”) for the divorce, and any associated financial proceedings to be dealt with if one or both of the parties have connections to other countries, or indeed which jurisdiction would be most favourable.