NCDR Update – Are the Tides Turning for Failing to Mediate?

Looking back over the last 12 months, 29 April 2024 was an important day for financial remedy practitioners. This was the date the rules concerning NCDR changed. The changes make ignoring the NCDR options a costs hazard. It seemed inevitable that costs orders would follow.

• Blog

• Leah Thomas
• Rhian Jones

!20/05/2025 12:05

Standish v Standish [2024] EWCA Civ 56723 May 2024

Landmark decision where Court of Appeal reduces W’s award by £20 million. Lord Justice Moylan, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Phillips.

• Cases

• Matrimonial and Non-Matrimonial Property
• Sharing
• Gifts
• Matrimonialisation
• Tax
• Autonomy
• Trusts

• Sophia Paraskeva

SM v BA (No 2: Maintenance Pending Suit) [2025] EWFC 2819 February 2025

Nicholas Allen KC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge. Application to increase maintenance pending suit (MPS) in ‘super-rich’ financial remedies case.

• Cases

• Interim Relief
• Maintenance Pending Suit
• Costs
• Legal Services Payment Orders

• Abigail Clements-Bewley

Legal Research, AI and the Canary in the Mineshaft

One of the sobering experiences of training to be a lawyer – the dawning realisation that it isn’t all dramatic cross-examination and fighting for the underdog – is legal research. Like learning a new language (let’s say, German), it’s a long and often tedious process. Some trainees, admittedly, seem to enjoy the tedium more than others. I was firmly in the ‘not enjoying this tedium’ camp.

• Blog

• AI

• Alexander Chandler KC

!09/05/2025 09:04

DSD v MJW (Costs of MPS) [2025] EWFC 119 (B)24 April 2025

DDJ David Hodson. Proportionality and maintenance pending suit (MPS), a cautionary tale. In this case the DDJ concluded that the game was very much not worth the candle, and the application turned out to be very costly for the applicant wife.

• Cases

• Interim Relief
• Maintenance Pending Suit

• Elizabeth Bowden