Nicholas Allen KC
Published: 13/01/2022 10:53
Barrister and Joint Head of Chambers at 29 Bedford Row (London). Door Tenant at St. Ives (Birmingham). IFLA arbitrator and PFDR/ENE tribunal. Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2018, a Deputy High Court Judge in 2021, and a Recorder of the Family Court in 2016. Bencher of the Middle Temple. Contributing Editor to The Family Court Practice and editor of the family law chapters of Foskett on Compromise. Regular lecturer including to the Judicial College. Co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Services Appointment Panel. Former trustee of FreeBar, a network promoting LGBT+ equality and inclusion.
What Is a ‘Predicament of Real Need’?
In Radmacher (Formerly Granatino) v Granatino [2010] 2 FLR 1900 at [81] Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said that of the three strands identified in White v White [2000] 2 FLR 981 and Miller/McFarlane [2006] 1 FLR 1186 it was needs and compensation which could most readily render it unfair to hold the parties to an ante-nuptial agreement. But what is the meaning of ‘predicament of real need’?
- Blog
- Pre-Nuptial Agreements
- Needs
!16/07/2024 14:38
Impact of Conduct on Needs
In exercising its powers in financial remedy proceedings, the court is required to have regard to the ‘conduct of each of the parties if that conduct is such that it would in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it’: s 25(2)(g) Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
- Journal
- Needs
- Conduct
!01/07/2024 07:00
AT v BT: The Return of Compensation
In AT v BT [2023] EWHC 3531 Francis J considered what he described (at [4]) as ‘the proper approach of the court to the sharing principle and to the principle of compensation’ given that ‘the husband maintains that this is a pure needs case and the wife asserts that this is a full sharing case’. This led H to offer a lump sum of £3.545m and W to seek a lump sum of £9.145m (with W to retain a property with an agreed value of £195,000 (£190,000 net of notional costs of sale)).
- Blog
- Needs
- Compensation
- Assets
!20/06/2024 19:41
‘Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns’ – Can a Change in the Law Be a Barder Event?
Can a change in domestic law, resulting from judicial tergiversation, ever satisfy the Barder test? The answer to this question depends, in part, on how widely or narrowly the Barder test is interpreted.
- Blog
- Barder Applications
- Setting Aside Orders (Including Barder Applications)
!04/06/2024 09:00
Standish – the Narrowing of ‘Matrimonialisation’
In L v L [2021] EWFC B83, HHJ Booth stated that he had been referred to the concept of ‘matrimonialisation’ but it was ‘a word that I hope will not acquire common usage’. Although not a word in the Oxford English Dictionary, HHJ Booth’s hope has not come to fruition.
- Blog
- Matrimonialisation
- Matrimonial and Non-Matrimonial Property
!28/05/2024 09:00
The Having of Children ‘Changes Everything’ – But in What Way?
How (if at all) should future non-financial contributions yet to be made by one of the parties to a marriage or civil partnership be taken into account when calculating the quantum of periodical payments?
- Blog
- Periodical Payments
- Needs
!07/05/2024 12:35
D(R) Day: Today’s Changes to FPR Parts 3 and 28
FPR Part 3 has historically been underused. This may change as important revisions to both FPR Part 3 and Part 28 come into effect, on 29 April 2024, when the material parts of the Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2023 (SI 2023/1324) come into force.
- Blog
- Family Procedure Rules
- NCDR
!29/04/2024 07:00
Quantifying Periodical Payments by Reference to the Needs Principle: Surveying the Wood Not the Trees
Tensions between competing propositions in financial remedy cases are not unusual. Is there also tension when determining the quantum of the applicant’s budget?
- Blog
- Needs
- Periodical Payments
!28/03/2024 11:43
What Is the True Extent of FDR Privilege?
In L v O (Stay of Order; Hadkinson Order; Security for Costs) [2024] EWFC 6 (26 January 2024) Cobb J considered whether a judge hearing a Barder (or Thwaite) application can/should be made aware of what took place at the FDR appointment where the original order was agreed and where this may be relevant to 'foreseeability'.
- Blog
- Privilege
!19/02/2024 16:04
Financial Dispute Revolution? The Family Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2023
There was a time when an unwritten rule seemed to provide that a marriage could only be described as long once the parties had celebrated their china anniversary and entered a third decade together, but times change, and so eventually do some rules.
- Journal
- Family Procedure Rules
!26/01/2024 08:00