Unlike married couples or those in a Civil Partnerships, cohabiting couples do not automatically have financial claims against each other upon separation. Property rights for unmarried couples differ depending on whether the couple live in rented accommodation or whether they own a property together. In this blog, we look at some of the most common
Can I make my partner move out? This is a question that we are often asked and the answer is…it depends on the circumstances. I thought it would be helpful to provide some examples using fictional characters Andrew and Bettie to demonstrate the different scenarios and issues that can arise. If you are married It
Chattels is the legal term that refers to personal possessions. In the context of divorce and separation, this will include the contents of your home, cars, pets (yes pets, which is a whole other blog!) but not financial assets or property made of bricks and mortar. When a couple separate, their chattels are often the last
Foreign Pension, holiday home? Nothing is excluded on divorce. If you are getting divorced in England and Wales, you may be tempted to think that foreign assets – i.e. those held outside the jurisdiction – are excluded from consideration when it comes to sorting out finances. This is untrue. On divorce, spouses and civil partners
There is an absolute requirement if finances are to be dealt with as part of a divorce that each person must provide full and frank financial disclosure. This means that information about all assets in your sole name or jointly with anyone else must be shown. This requirement of full and frank disclosure is required
There is a common belief that matrimonial assets are simply divided 50:50 when a couple divorce. Experienced divorce solicitors agree that it is easy to see why such an assumption is held by many given that the objective of the family court is achieve an outcome which is ‘fair’ to both parties. But does fairness
Although the terms common-law husband or wife are frequently used to describe a couple who live together, these relationships do not have any legal recognition. There is no such thing as common law marriage. Nevertheless, many people hold the belief that couples who live together in a settled relationship will, at some point, acquire the
Following my separate blog post last week, the long awaited Law Commission Report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements has been released – but did we breathe a sigh of relief? As I mentioned in my post ahead of the report’s release, the Law Commission project was to address pre and post nuptial agreements, the
The Law Commission report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements, due to be published tomorrow (27th February), is awaited with bated breath. The Law Commission were originally intending to address marital agreements such as pre and post nuptial agreements. This has now been extended to cover some other issues relating to financial issues following divorce.