Articles by ‘Simon Bassett’

At the end of March of this year, legislation enabling same-sex marriage in England and Wales came into force. Scotland is expected to introduce similar legislation later this year. The legislation follows the introduction of the “Consular Marriage and Marriages under Foreign Law Order 2014” which came into force yesterday (June 3rd).

Over the weekend, the 30th International Missing Children’s Day took place, with a leading charity turning to social media to highlight and raise awareness of the issue of missing children in the UK.

At the end of April of this year, one of the UK’s most senior judges suggested that unmarried women who live with their partner are effectively “thrown on the scrapheap” if the relationship breaks down.

On 21st May, it was announced that thousands of single parents throughout the UK are to receive letters informing them of changes to their child maintenance arrangements.

Couples going through separation are to be given clear new guidelines setting out what they should expect when property and income is distributed by the courts, it has been announced.

The question of bankers’ bonuses has long been in the news and indeed garnered further attention last year following the EU cap on bankers’ bonuses.

Earlier this year, the Law Commission published proposals which suggested that pre-nuptial agreements should be legally enforceable within the UK.

From April 2016 a number of proposed changes to the state pension are set to have a significant impact on the financial matters of those couples going through a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership.

Earlier this month, in a written ruling on a divorce case which was heard at the Family Division of the High Court in London, it was revealed that a wealthy foreign former-politician signed an agreement under which he would be obliged to pay his wife £60,000 a month in maintenance.

A motion calling for the introduction of same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland has again been rejected by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The new Children and Families Act has now been given Royal Assent, with changes in the law affecting many areas, In particular, there are three significant fields which will see changes, these are:

The Law Commission, which reviews areas of the law that have become too complicated, outdated or unfair and proposes reforms to the government, has recommended that pre-nuptial agreements, enabling couples to set out in advance how their assets are divided if their marriage or civil partnership breaks down, should be given legal force.