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. Chair of the UK Association of LGBTQ+ Judges.
OS v DT and Post-Separation Income: Fairness Trumps Inflexibility
In a previous post Nicholas Allen KC considered the potential impact of Waggott v Waggott [2018] 2 FLR 406 on the argument that income (or the assets or capital generated therefrom) earned in or referable to the first 12 months post-separation should be classed as matrimonial property to which the sharing principle applies. This issue has now been revisited in OS v DT [2025] EWFC 156 (B) per HHJ Hess.
- Blog
- Post-Separation Accrual
!08/07/2025 07:00
Non Court Dispute Resolution – What Difference Does a Year (and a Bit) Make?18 June 2025
Important revisions to both FPR Part 3 and Part 28 came into effect on 29 April 2024 when the material parts of the Family Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2023 came into force.
- Blog
- NCDR
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
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
Betting the Farm
In an area of law that has many dedicated sub-genres, few are perceived as being as abstruse and esoteric as the idea of the ‘farming case’. The term is rolled out with such precision and certainty that one could be forgiven for expecting a separate section of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 to have been dedicated to its operation.
- Journal
- Matrimonial and Non-Matrimonial Property
- Nuptial Settlements
- Farms
- Autumn 2024 Budget
- Taxation
- Farming Case
!18/03/2025 06:00
Interview with Sir Nicholas Francis
Nicholas Allen KC and HHJ Edward Hess interviewed Sir Nicholas Francis over dinner in December 2024, a few months after he retired from the High Court Bench.
- Journal
!18/03/2025 06:00
Post-Separation Income: Has Rossi Survived Waggott and Standish?
In Rossi v Rossi [2007] 1 FLR 790 Nicholas Mostyn QC adopted a formulaic approach in relation to ‘a post-separation bonus or other earned income’. He stated that ‘[a]lthough there is an element of arbitrariness’ he would not allow a post-separation bonus to be classed as non-matrimonial ‘unless it related to a period which commenced at least 12 months after the separation’.
- Blog
- Post-Separation Accrual
!05/02/2025 11:51
Wells Sharing: Commonplace or a Matter of Last Resort?
The importance of the ‘clean break’ has been reemphasised in recent years with greater emphasis being placed on MCA 1973 s 25A (and s 28(1A)), particularly in the judgments of Mostyn J.
- Blog
- Wells Sharing
- Clean Breaks and Term Maintenance
!08/11/2024 17:00
No Special Favours: Litigants in Person and the Financial Remedies Court
Although not impacted in the same way as private law children proceedings by the restrictions on access to justice brought about the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which came into force on 1 April 2013, there are many parties who represent themselves in financial remedy proceedings, sometimes due to cost and sometimes by choice.
- Blog
- Litigants in Person
!23/10/2024 10:35
Ma v Roux: Can You Strike Out a Set Aside Application?
It was settled in Wyatt v Vince [2015] UKSC 14 that the court cannot strike-out/give summary judgment on a legally recognisable application for a financial remedy order as an applicant is entitled to have such an application heard on its merits. But is that the end of the matter? In Ma v Roux [2024] EWHC 1917 (Fam) Francis J heard an appeal from HHJ Reardon.
- Blog
- Striking Out Applications
- Setting Aside Orders (Including Barder Applications)
!25/09/2024 17:32
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