Divorce-Online.Co.UK Blog

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is extending its remit to cover the online realm.

It means that online marketing and ads will, from 1 March 2011, be subject to the same strict advertising rules as traditional media.

The ASA will also have the power to ban marketing statements on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter

Last year the body received over 3,500 complaints but over half of the adverts were outside of its remit.

“This is a massive step. Consumers don’t differentiate between adverts on TV or online and this ensures that claims online will be subject to the same strict scrutiny of those in traditional media,” said an ASA spokesman.

The new rules will apply to adverts and any statement on a website that is intended to sell products or services.

Websites will be given until 1 March 2011 to comply with the new rules.

In an effort to protect online freedom of speech, the ASA’s new remit will not extend to journalistic and editorial content related to causes and ideas.

But direct requests for donations for fund-raising will be under its jurisdiction.

The ASA will also be given new sanctions against online ads found to be in breach of its regulations, including the removal of paid-for search advertising and the right to place its own advertisements highlighting an advertiser’s non-compliance.

75% of the complaints received by the ASA are about misleading content.

It is about time that someone has the authority to stop websites making misleading claims as Trading Standards are about as useful as a chocolate fire-guard at protecting consumers in our industry.

We have found that a certain online competitor over the years has made up testimonials, advertises a 100% refund policy and then changes this in the terms and conditions and also misleads about the services provided on each and every page of their myriad of websites.

As soon as this law comes in to effect we will be lodging a host of complaints as will many others in other fields that they operate in.

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Katie Price has hit out at her ex-husband Peter Andre once again, claiming that the Australian pop star and presenter is “milking” their divorce.

The pair married after meeting in the jungle on reality show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and had two children together, Princess Tiaamii and Junior.

However, things turned sour between the couple and they had a bitter split in May last year, with Katie now newly married to cage fighter Alex Reid.

Now she has hit out at Pete once again for the way he has handled their divorce – and claims that he could put a stop to it if he wanted.

Speaking to The Guardian, Katie said: “The negative press attention hurts my family more than me. I say, ‘Mum, just don’t read it. End of.’ Junior, my middle son, does ask questions about my divorce from Pete but I don’t know what Pete says to him.

“Luckily I’ve got papers and stuff from interviews that Pete’s done, which I will show Junior when he’s older and I’ll let him view what he wants. I’m not going to brainwash a kid at 5 years old. All I’ll say is that I don’t want to talk about Pete.”

Katie added: “All he ever had to say is, ‘I don’t want any bad word said about Kate. She’s the mother of my kids. End of.’ But instead he milked the situation and still is.”

Meanwhile, Katie’s new husband Alex Reid has reportedly banned the star from acting as a surrogate mother, to allow her friends Gary Cockerill and Phil Turner to have a family.

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15,000 jobs on the line

The Ministry of Justice is planning to cut £2bn from its £9bn budget, says the Public and Commercial Services Union.

The union claims the proposal could put 15,000 of the justice department’s 80,000 jobs at risk.

Most Whitehall departments are being asked to outline proposals to reduce costs by between 25% and 40%.

With £4bn fixed for legal aid and prison costs, the Ministry of Justice cuts could bring courts “to a standstill”, the union said.

It added that the cuts would be the “equivalent to the entire budget for prisons, or the money the department spends each year on courts and tribunals”.

More on BBC News

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Is it time to regulate

Having watched the programme about Will Writers last night on Panorama and having looked at the industry in some detail my personal view is that some measure of regulation is required to ensure that will writers have insurance and rules about transparency in marketing.

I do not believe that Solicitors should have the right to be the only  regulated will writers as there is no qualification for actually writing wills, as qualifying as a solicitor does not mean you know how to write wills or are an expert in estate planning. That only comes with experience and training.

There are professional will writers out there who are ten times more experienced that most solicitors and in my view the regulation of the industry should be open to a number of bodies not just the SRA.

The biggest complaint is that will writers use the wills as a lead on to selling other financial services such as funeral plans and life insurance and expensive trustee services

The banks and financial advisers are the biggest culprits in this market and many banks have a professional executor service which you have to sign up for if you want their cheap will. This should be banned as consumers should always have a choice of who they wish to use. It may mean that wills become more expensive, but if the end result is people not getting bills for thousands of pounds years later, then that is no bad thing.

The legal Services Board have been looking into this and a workshop has already been set up to examine the market and the whether there is an actual need for regulation

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$5,0000 Merry Christmas

We bring news from across the pond of the world’s first divorce insurance policy. Wedlock Divorce Insurance will cover you in the event of a divorce for as little as $15.99 a month they will pay you from $1,250 up to $5,000,000 if your marriage ends in divorce.

For $15.99 per month each, you purchase units that will each initially pay out $1,250 when you make a claim (by providing proof of your divorce). Claims can only be made after the four-year ‘maturity period’ has expired, although if you’re not confident that your marriage will last even that long, you can pay to have the period reduced to three years. On the other hand, if you can stick it out beyond the maturity period you will get an extra $250 cover per unit for every year you stay together.

The site also carries a divorce probability calculator, while aimed at our American cousins can be an amusing interlude from the website which is pretty awful. Unfortunately I am at highest risk of getting a divorce even though I have been married for 12 years and can’t see any problems on the horizon so far ( touch wood).

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• ‘WedLock’: Startup Now Selling ‘Divorce Insurance’ (huffingtonpost.com)

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Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and his wife Sarah have announced they are to separate.

A statement issued by the couple’s respective lawyers said it was “with great sadness” that they had decided to split.

Mr Kennedy married Sarah Gurling in 2002 and their son, Donald, was born during the 2005 general election campaign.

The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, resigned as party leader in 2006.

Mr Kennedy had lost the support of MPs in the wake of his public admission of a drink problem.

In May he refused to vote for the coalition deal with the Conservatives, preferring a tie-up with Labour.

The joint statement from the Kennedys said: “Our ongoing and overriding priority will obviously remain our son.

“We wish this to remain an entirely private family matter.”

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The love birds

This is my heart warming story of the day.

I used to love the Munsters and will still watch the occasional episode on Sky Yonder or whatever channel replaced UK Gold ( not Dave, that’s just for blokes).

Now then, little Eddie Munster has fallen in love with a fan who first wrote to him 45 years ago when she was 10 and after digging out some old boxes she decided to write to him again.

They met  recently met up at a horror convention and have fallen in love.

Now with all the doom and gloom about legal aid and cuts it just shows there are some nice things happening in the world.

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Postgoldforcash.com have bought over 10,000 engagement and wedding rings since their first advertisement featuring Ann Diamond was broadcasted on British television in 2009.

In 2008, the divorce rate in England and Wales was over 11.2 people divorcing per 1000 married. Though this is one of the highest divorce rates worldwide, the divorce rate hasn’t been this low in England and Wales since 1979.

According to Mark Keenan, the managing director of Divorce-Online.co.uk, the number of divorces will rocket in 2010 and onwards as a result of the economic recession. The most recent statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that, in the first quarter of 2010, there has been an increase of 6% in dissolutions of marriages compared to the first quarter of 2009. It is no surprise that, if financial hardship is causing people to split up, they will gladly sell their unwanted gold rings for a good price.

Market research by the independent company TNS showed that Postgoldforcash offer substantially better prices than its main competitors advertising in Britain. The offer they make is based on the melt value of the ring. They buy all types of gold and also make offers for other precious metals such as silver and platinum. Consumers have even received a fair price for unwanted diamonds and gemstones from Postgoldforcash.

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The Court of Appeal has given judgement in a case that removes protection previously afforded to thousands of people in divorce proceedings.

Until now a husband or wife who came across information showing their partner was hiding money could copy it, use it and put it before the courts.

But the court reversed that principle in a case involving property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz.

Lawyers have described the judgement as “ground-breaking”.

It comes after the property tycoons attempted to use information about the financial affairs of their sister’s multi-millionaire husband at her divorce hearing.

Following the ruling, they must comply with a High Court order to hand back to Vivian Imerman the documents copied from a computer.

Mr Imerman’s lawyers claimed the “ground-breaking” decision would revolutionise disclosure in documents in family law cases.

Divorce lawyers said the judgement would mean that in future any attempt by one side in a divorce case to take documents without permission would result in heavy costs orders or criminal proceedings.

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