
Blog
Standish – Reporting Remotely from the Front Line
On Wednesday 30 April 2025 I was sat at home in London, feeling somewhat retired but eager to know what the Supreme Court has to say about matrimonialisation of property and the sharing principle. So too were Mr and Mrs Standish.
- Blog
- Sharing Principle
- Gifts
!02/05/2025 11:11
Apportioning Pension Assets to the Marital Period in Divorce
Dividing pension assets is critical for a fair divorce settlement. This summary focuses on pension sharing, the legal splitting of pension rights between divorcing parties via a Pension Sharing Order, applicable in England and Wales.
- Blog
- Pensions
!01/05/2025 13:00
Chattels: What If They Are Not to Be Divided by Agreement?
Chattels are often in dispute between parties to financial remedy proceedings. However their division is something their lawyers are very happy not to get involved with. Little is more likely to lead to a sigh of relief than the words ‘Chattels – to be divided by agreement’.
- Blog
- Chattels
!28/04/2025 14:00
The Express Financial Remedy Pilot – a Fast Track to Success or Turmoil?
A fast-track pilot scheme for financial remedy cases is running from 7 April 2025 to 3 April 2026 in courts in the north of England. It applies by default to all cases started there where net assets (excluding pensions) are less than £250,000. It is possible to request to be removed from the express pilot and it will be interesting to follow the numbers of cases where that is granted.
- Blog
- Express Financial Remedy Procedure
!25/04/2025 14:00
Book Review: Dictionary of the Court of Protection
Sir James Munby reviews the new Dictionary of the Court of Protection.
- Blog
- Book Review
!23/04/2025 09:50
When It’s Good, It’s Very Good The ES2, Aged Three; a Pedant’s Perspective
On 11 January 2025, the pro forma schedule of assets known to all as the ES2 turned three years old. Just like the little girl (with the little curl, right in the middle of her forehead) of nursery rhyme fame, who one imagines may be of a similar age, when it’s good, it’s very good, and when it’s bad, it’s horrid.
- Blog
- Asset Schedules
!11/04/2025 07:00
Transplanting Costs Order Principles to LSPOs and Legal Costs Funding Orders
In family proceedings, the court has two key tools at its disposal to address the funding of litigation. The first is via an LSPO to meet the incurrence of future legal fees, and the second, quite distinct in nature and purpose, is a costs order, providing for one party to pay the costs that have already been incurred by the other party.
- Blog
- Costs
- Legal Services Payment Orders
!07/04/2025 10:00
The Changing Limits of the Without Prejudice Doctrine (in the Light of the Shift in FPR Part 3)
In this article James Pirrie and Victoria Nottage explore the intersection between the without prejudice doctrine as it applies to mediation and the inquisitorial responsibilities of the court as bolstered by the new protocols.
- Blog
- Without Prejudice
!04/04/2025 07:00
ST v AR: The Origin of Assets and the Assessment of Needs
As Mostyn J observed in Clarke v Clarke [2023] 2 FLR 1 at [36], Peel J’s oft-quoted summary of the law in WC v HC (Financial Remedies Agreements) (Rev 1) [2022] 2 FLR 1110 at [21] is an ‘impeccable synopsis of the jurisprudence applicable in financial remedy cases [which] has become justly famous’. Somewhat more colloquially, Peel J has himself said (with a smile) that he has heard his summary described as ‘the Noddy Guide’ to financial remedies.
- Blog
- Assets
- Needs
!01/04/2025 10:20
Let’s Be Clear: The Transparency Reporting Pilot for Financial Remedy Proceedings
One of the most important considerations for anyone with significant wealth, or who has a public profile and who is getting divorced, is the subject of confidentiality and privacy. It is often a key factor of any such client who is considering where and how to get divorced, and it is something matrimonial solicitors have in mind in the first meeting they have with their client. Balanced against that is the push towards increasing transparency within our family justice system, the purpose of which being to promote accountability and public confidence in the same.
- Blog
- Transparency
!28/03/2025 07:00