‘You Want Me to Do What Now?’ – The Return-to-Work Question and the Quiet Cost of Executive Marriage

She hadn’t written a CV in 20 years. Hadn’t needed to. When her ex’s career took off, they moved every few years. She held everything else together while he earned the money. But ‘everything else’ was a lot. A job that never ended, never paid, and never came with recognition, until now, when it’s being questioned. Because now, as part of the divorce, she’s being asked to outline her ‘return-to-work plan’.

• Journal

• Economic Disparity
• Spousal Maintenance (Quantum)
• 5-Year Career Plan
• Return to Work

• Ceri Griffiths

!30/06/2025 06:00

What’s in a WhatsApp: Can a WhatsApp Message Transfer a Property?

The decision of Deputy Insolvency and Company Courts Judge Frith (the judge) in Reid-Roberts and Burke v Mei-Lin and Gudmundsson [2024] EWHC 759 (Ch) is one of the first published cases since the decision of the Court of Appeal in Hudson v Hathway [2022] EWCA Civ 1648, [2023] KB 345 to deal with what constitutes a disposition of a beneficial interest in land by means of signed writing.

• Journal

• TLATA
• Electronic Signature
• WhatsApp
• Property
• Formalities
• Signed Writing

• Michael Horton KC
• Matthew Richardson

!30/06/2025 06:00

Foreign Property Regimes and English Matrimonial Finance: Parity or Particularity?

Since the landmark decision in Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, [2011] 1 AC 534, English law has recognised the legitimacy of pre-nuptial agreements. As family life becomes increasingly international, the courts regularly encounter a wide variety of agreements, including those signed abroad.

• Journal

• Pre-Nuptial Agreements
• Foreign Marital Property Regimes
• Agreements
• Nuptial Agreements
• Autonomy

• Rebecca Carew Pole KC
• Kyra Cornwall

!30/06/2025 06:00

The Role of Opt-out Agreements in Cohabitation Reform

There is a significant measure of agreement amongst both academics and practitioners that making financial remedies available to cohabiting couples on an opt-in basis will not work.

• Journal

• Opt-Out Agreements
• Cohabitation
• Cohabitation Agreements
• Nuptial Agreements
• Autonomy

• Professor Sharon Thompson

!30/06/2025 06:00

Is Duxbury Dead?

The Spring 2025 issue of this journal led off with the eagerly awaited, 21-page Final Report of the Duxbury Working Party. As one would expect from its distinguished authors, the report is engaging, well written and skilfully argued, but Peter Duckworth here explains his reasons for thinking that its conclusion – that we need to go on using the Duxbury model – is wrong.

• Journal

• Duxbury Capitalisation

• Peter Duckworth

!30/06/2025 06:00

Chair’s Column

HHJ Edward Hess, Chair of the Editorial Board, considers transparency, pensions on divorce, musicians going through divorces and the young financial remedies barrister.

• Journal

• HHJ Edward Hess | Chair of the Editorial Board

!30/06/2025 06:00

Smoke and Mirrors: Shams and Illusory Trusts in Divorce Proceedings

The existence of so-called ‘sham’ or ‘illusory’ trusts in divorce proceedings often leads to complex and intellectually engaging work for family and chancery lawyers. Identifying such trusts can significantly impact the value of the matrimonial pot and the eventual financial distribution. Remedies are typically pursued through interim applications under s 37 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and/or s 423 Insolvency Act 1986.

• Journal

• Setting Aside Transactions
• Sham
• Trusts

• Rachel Bale

!30/06/2025 06:00

Adverse Inferences: The Court’s Approach to Valuing Overseas Assets Without Disclosure

This article will consider the court’s approach to adverse inferences in cases where there has been no, minimal or seriously deficient disclosure from one party, particularly in relation to overseas assets. Valuing overseas properties and businesses can be particularly challenging where there has been no engagement and/or no disclosure by the party in control of the overseas asset and the other party has little information about the asset.

• Journal

• Non-Disclosure
• Overseas Assets
• Adverse Inferences
• Valuations

• Philip Perrins
• Beth Hibbert

!30/06/2025 06:00

Interview with Steve McCrone, the Senior Clerk at 1 Hare Court

The Editorial Board of FRJ wanted to hear from a family law clerk. By universal acclaim, Steve McCrone was agreed as ‘the senior man’ having been clerking for nearly 35 years and so the invitation fell to him (other senior clerks are available).

• Journal

• Interview
• Family Clerk
• Financial Remedies

• Rhys Taylor | Vice Chair of the Editorial Board & Journal Editor

!30/06/2025 06:00

The Summary of the Summaries (Summer 2025)

Summaries of recent cases including FI v DO [2024] EWFC 384 (B) (final hearing in financial remedy case involving which party should keep the family dog, a golden retriever puppy), XY v XX [2024] EWFC 387 (B) (application brought by H to set aside on the basis of a ‘mutual mistake’ of the parties which presented the court with inaccurate computational figures) and Vince v Vince [2024] EWFC 389.

• Journal

• Liam Kelly

!30/06/2025 06:00