Deborah Prance

Even before the pandemic, family lawyers, partly in recognition of this burden on the family courts, started to consider alternative ways of dealing with family disputes

As practitioners in matrimonial law, we are frequently asked whether the other party’s conduct should be reflected in the ultimate financial settlement. Such is the nature of this area of practice, that emotions understandably regularly feature in our instructions with our clients often feeling that they are the party who has been “wronged”.

Deborah Prance looks into the alternatives to court proceedings for relationship breakdowns, including Arbitration and Financial Dispute Resolution. Appointments.

When a relationship breaks down there are many tough decisions that need to be made about you, your family, your home and your finances. One of the first financial considerations many have to make is working out how you are going to fund their divorce – this can be very problematic, especially for those whose spouses control all or the majority of the family wealth.

1. What is a prenuptial agreement? Prenuptial agreements are formal agreements entered into by a couple prior to their marriage, the main aim of which is to make provision for how their finances should be distributed should they divorce...

Following a divorce, a spouse may be required to pay their former spouse maintenance, normally on a monthly basis, if they are unable to meet their day-to-day outgoings without it. There is no set formula for the calculation of spousal maintenance...

Age UK has recently warned that thousands of women going through divorce could be losing out on significant sums of money in retirement because they are unaware of a legal entitlement to their husband’s pension. Property and savings play a big part in...

Now that the Supreme Court has decided that heterosexual couples should be able to enter civil partnerships, there will at least be another option for those who do not wish to marry. However, the reality is that many couples will continue to live together...

At the beginning of May, the Ministry of Justice launched its online divorce service nationwide enabling couples to apply for an uncontested divorce digitally without the need to fill in and file paper forms with the court. While it is a step forward...

It is a commonly held view that if both parties in a marriage have formed the view that their marriage is over, they can proceed with a divorce on the basis of “irreconcilable differences”, with no blame being attached to either party....

The number of unmarried couples living together has more than doubled from 1.5 million in 1996 to 3.3 million in 2017 and is now the fastest growing family type. Unfortunately, the law has not caught up with the times and you could be at risk if the...

Christmas is traditionally a time for families to come together, however for many separated parents and children it can be a difficult time. However, with some forward planning and cooperation between the parents, these issues can be resolved to ensure...

The breakdown of a relationship is difficult and stressful enough as it is without the parties having to cope with possible court proceedings to sort out the financial and other arrangements going forward. Following the withdrawal of Legal Aid for most...