Divorce-Online Blog

There is an interesting article in the Telegraph today entitled ” The real story of the gap year wife”. of particular interest to us was a comment about what they will do when they do eventually get a divorce.
Quote “With fiction you can write any ending you wish. In real life, even in Lisa’s life, things don’t always work the way you had originally planned. Matt/my husband came back, but not to me. And I’m not sure I’d have taken him back even if he’d wanted me. We did eventually sell the marital home. Assets and spoils were divided. No acrimony, no alimony. Actually, we’re still not divorced. If the lawyers had had their way we’d have been battling in court by now, and much the poorer. So far we’ve not bothered with divorce. When we eventually get around to it, we’ll do it online and share the cost”

The original article appears here

The Supreme Court’s decision to top up the financial award made to a divorcee by a Nigerian court could ‘open the floodgates to forum shopping’ and further clog the London courts, family lawyers have warned.

The court ruled that a settlement reached in a Nigerian court would have caused ‘real hardship’ to the former wife, and reinstated the decision of the High Court to award a higher lump sum to her.

Olusola and Sikirat Agbaje had been married for 38 years before divorcing in Nigeria. They spent much of that time in Nigeria, but had acquired British citizenship and had five children who were born in England.

The likely increase in the number of overseas litigants would be an unwelcome addition’ to the case load of the London courts and elongate the already lengthy delays.

‘This decision drives a coach and horses through the doctrine of comity, affording a sense of courtesy to the decisions of friendly foreign courts,’ he said. ‘It smacks of our colonial past and is at odds with our ­treatment of our European neighbours.’

Marilyn Stowe, partner at Harrogate firm Stowe Family Law, said she was not concerned the case would lead to a rush of litigation from overseas. She added: ‘Past jurisprudence where people have tried and failed to get settlements overturned shows that the bar is set high. The present case is exceptional. I don’t think reasonable provision was made by the Nigerian court.’

Source: Law Society Gazette

Kevin Halstead, 50, spent last Friday out with friends after his decree absolute arrived.

The next day the bus driver bought a Lotto ticket. And later he sat stunned when he saw his numbers come up.

A friend said: “Kevin’s divorce dragged on for a couple of years. Everything was settled on Friday so he went out and got drunk. On Saturday he decided to spend his last quid on a lottery ticket.

“He checked the papers next morning and saw he’d won half the jackpot.”

But his former wife Helen, 48, who will not get a penny unless Kevin is feeling charitable, is not at all bitter.

Last night she said: “We’ve been separated a long time. We are the best of friends. In fact, we get on better now than when we were married. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. I wish him all the luck in the world – he deserves it.”

She added: “All I’ll say is I won £5 on a scratchcard on Saturday.”

Today Kevin and his new partner will receive their £2,302,668 cheque near their home in Chorley, Lancs.

They shared the £4.6million jackpot with another winner who also matched the numbers 23, 25, 28, 33, 44 and 49.

The fact that the parties have received their decree absolute does not mean that the financial side of the divorce is finished although reading between the lines I see the word settled has been used.

If they had not settled the finances then she would have been able to stake a claim on the winnings.

Couples with ‘twins’ or ‘triplets’ are more likely to split up as they find it hard to face financial distress following multiple births, according to a new study.

Findings of the study reveal that the extra cost of multiple births often leads to financial woes, which play a major role in breakdown of families.

Details of the study

A research team from the University of Birmingham analyzed the data of two previously done studies to come up with this finding.

The first study was carried out on 19,000 babies born in the UK between September 2000 and January 2002. The second was a Government’s annual Family Resources survey (2004-07), which charts out households living in poverty or having low income.

Results of the study

On analysis, the researchers found that almost a third of parents with ‘multiples’ split up compared to less than a quarter of couples who had a ’single’ child.

Nearly 62 percent of the families having ‘multiples’ said they were undergoing financial distress compared to 40 percent of other parents.

Families with ‘multiples’ also reported struggling to pay off for the “key child-related items” such as school uniforms, bicycles and even taking the children on a holiday.

Further, 48 percent of those raising ‘twins’ or ‘triplets’ reported having used up all their savings compared with 37 percent of other families with ’single’ children.

It was also found that post pregnancy, mothers having ‘twins’ or ‘triplets’ were 20 percent less likely to return to work than mothers of ’singletons,’ thus putting more financial pressure on the family.

The study’s author, Steve McKay, Professor of Social Research in Birmingham University’s School of Social Policy said, “The report found that twins and triplets are more likely to be born to married and older couples, who are in paid employment.

“These factors should provide some degree of “protection” against low incomes and deprivation, so it is deeply concerning that twins or triplets are experiencing greater levels of material deprivation than singletons, and that their families are at greater risk of separation and divorce.”

“There is a noticeable difference in the statistics when it comes to separation and divorce – this is not just by chance,” he added.

The study titled “The Effects of Twins and Multiple Births Families and Their Living Standards” was supported by the Twins and Multiple Births Association (TAMBA), UK

Source: Divorce-Online.Co.UK

An article in The Times today features a new service called The Couple Connection from the relationship charity OnePlusOne. The charity set up 16 months ago has attracted 250,000 users, to whom it is free and available 24/7, and now a survey of the users indicates that it is having a positive impact. While 69 per cent of those surveyed believe it has helped to improve their relationship, 44 per cent say it has saved their relationship.

The site received 3400k of Government money which appears to have been well spent as the Times reckons it costs 2.5p per person to give support, which if true is an amazing figure. However with only 1562 users a month so far I am not sure any figures can give a true picture of the effectiveness of the site as yet and with 132,000 divorces and god knows how many cohabitee relationships breaking down, this really is just a toe in the water.

However that said, the site will only grow if it is talked about and recommended to others.

We are prepared to do our bit, as believe it or not if we can help save a marriage we will.

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• Couples don’t need the law to tell them how to live together (guardian.co.uk)

The split, announced by their legal representatives, was said to be ”entirely amicable”.

The couple - who are ‘’saddened” by the split - separated earlier this year.

Their lawyer, Keith Schilling of legal firm Schillings, said: “Kate and Sam are saddened to announce that they separated earlier this year.

“The split is entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement. Both parties are fully committed to the future joint parenting of their children.”

He added: “They ask that the media respect the privacy of the family.”

He said there would be no further comment on the matter.

Winslet and Mendes tied the knot in a secret ceremony in the West Indies in May 2003, during a holiday.

The actress’s daughter from her first marriage, Mia, was present at the low key event.

The couple’s family were not present at the private ceremony, just three of their friends.

They made their first UK public appearance together in 2002 when they attended the premiere of Mendes’s second film, The Road To Perdition.

Winslet had been married for little over three years to assistant director Jim Threapleton, but they divorced in December 2001.

Winslet and Mendes became an item within two months of her split from Threapleton.

Mendes’s past loves have included actresses Jane Horrocks and Rachel Weisz.

The couple had a son named Joe in December 2003.

Well if its amicable they know where to come Divorce-Online

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• Winslet and Mendes split (news.bbc.co.uk)

Cheryl Cole is unlikely to cite estranged husband Ashley’s alleged adultery as the reason for their divorce, a report has claimed.

The X Factor judge is expected to only focus on the sex texts that her partner has been accused of sending, meaning that the grounds for divorce will instead be “unreasonable behaviour”, according to the Daily Mail.

It is thought that the Girls Aloud star has been told that Ashley’s reported infidelity would be “more difficult for her to prove” as the Chelsea footballer is unlikely to formally admit any wrongdoing.

Cheryl is reportedly being advised by Fiona Shackleton, who has represented both Prince Charles and Sir Paul McCartney in the past. The singer has now been tipped to get the divorce over as quickly as possible and is expected to secure a straight split of the assets she shares with Ashley.

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• Coles’ Divorce ‘Could Be Over By World Cup’ (news.sky.com)

With Autum 2011 being announced as the start date for Alternative Business Structures, the time has come for Divorce-Online to consider what we want to do as a company to maintain our current strong growth.

We are not a law firm, we are in effect a software and ancillary services provider and not providing reserved activities as defined in The Legal Services Act 2007, yet we look like a legal service.

The question will be what would we achive by becoming an ABS and would all the red tape be worth it, considering we are doing quite well with our existing model?

Well the answer to that question is no if we just carry on doing what we do now, but a definate yes if we decide to expand into providing advice and conduct litigation.

The model of the virtual law firm starts to become attractive with Solicitors and other licenced practioners working either as employees or on a self employed basis under our brand umbrella from their own homes or offices around the country. We alreasy know where our clients will come from as the vast majority of visitors to the Divorce-Online website do not use our uncontested document services and just want information.

Those visitors would be able to be converted into leads for our own mediators, counsellors, lawyers, IFA’s etc so we launch with a ready made brand  that does what it says on the tin and thousands of potential new clients for the ABS from day one.

My vision is to have a national family law service that can provide a one stop shop for clients from giving advice to dealing with their pensions and investments and this could only happen under the new rules.

We will become a law firm owned by non lawyers who understand how to run and market a commercial business and will use our ten years of experience as an e commerce operation to build Britain’s most succesful family law firm for generations to come.

Our use of technology and effective administration will mean that our overheads will be low and our fees will  be lower than people can find on their own high street without compromising the quality of the service we can give to the consumer.

We have already appointed our Head of Legal Practice and Head of Finance and have been in discussions with  the senior management of the LSB and are looking forward to reviewing the proposed licencing regimes from both the SRA and the CLC who have indicated they will apply for licenses to regulate ABS firms.

The board of directors will be primarily succesful business people but with the counterweight of lawyers who will be able to ensure that the commercial aspects of the business do not interfere with the duties we have to the client and to the court.

I am hopeful that the title of ABS will be renamed as we will be the model to follow and not alternative within a very short period of time.

The Supreme Court reinforced yesterday London’s reputation as “divorce capital of the world” after it found in favour of a Nigerian woman who took her case to the UK courts after disputing the divorce settlement she was awarded by a Nigerian court.

Family lawyers said the judgment could open the floodgates for wealthy spouses in “big money” divorce cases who are unhappy with divorce awards made by overseas courts to seek a bigger payout in the UK.

Family Lore have a more in depth take on the result here

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• London’s role as divorce payout capital confirmed (telegraph.co.uk)

Former England goalkeeper David Seaman’s wife was granted a quickie divorce today on the grounds of adultery.

District Judge Richard Robinson pronounced a decree nisi at the Family Division of London’s High Court, taking just three minutes 25 seconds.

In documents released by the court, Debbie Seaman said she first became aware of the adultery last July.

In response to the question “Do you find it intolerable to live with the respondent?”, she replied: “Yes.”

The documents showed the former footballer admitted the adultery.

The couple were married at Castle Ashby House in Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire on July 15 1998.

Neither party attended court.