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Are You Guilty of Money-Laundering? A Tale of Chinese Cotton, Lawyer’s Fees and Unintended Consequences

Are You Guilty of Money-Laundering? A Tale of Chinese Cotton, Lawyer’s Fees and Unintended Consequences

It is not often that a family law blog warns ordinary hard-working honest family lawyers that they might be unwitting criminals. This is that blog. You should read it. Remember POCA, NCIS and all that? One of the common results of the necessity for parties to financial remedies to give

They Think It’s All Over… It Is Not! Express Declarations, Subsequent Agreements and the Decision in Re Cynberg

They Think It’s All Over… It Is Not! Express Declarations, Subsequent Agreements and the Decision in Re Cynberg

In Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17, at [49], Baroness Hale said that ‘[n]o-one now doubts that … an express declaration [of trust] is conclusive unless varied by subsequent agreement or affected by proprietary estoppel’. It might reasonably be observed that the authority cited for that proposition, the decision of

The Art of the Award: Delivering an Arbitral Award in a Financial Remedies Case

The Art of the Award: Delivering an Arbitral Award in a Financial Remedies Case

Like advocacy, award writing is a solitary and idiosyncratic art. No doubt others use different brush strokes. These are my tips for award writing. A stitch in time saves nine. The tribunal does not want to be left at the end of a hearing without a clear roadmap of what

Absence of Authority?

Absence of Authority?

In G v S (Family Law Act 1996: Publicity) [2024] EWFC 231 (B) (6 June 2024) HHJ Reardon asked: ‘What is the default position in terms of publication in a case where s 12 [of the Administration of Justice Act 1969] does not apply?’ And answered: ‘42. … I would suggest,

Help to Shape How Pensions on Divorce Reports Are Prepared

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (the IFoA) is looking for family lawyers to join a new working party looking at Pensions on Divorce. It is critical that courts receive appropriate expert advice in relation to the often complex pension arrangements of divorcing parties. A small number of actuaries and

Cohabitation and Separation: When Does the Clock Start and Stop?

Cohabitation and Separation: When Does the Clock Start and Stop?

Since the two seminal decisions of the House of Lords, first in White v White [2000] 2 FLR 981 and then in Miller v Miller; McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] 1 FLR 1186, introduced practitioners to the potentially crucial distinction (in sharing cases, at least) between matrimonial and non-matrimonial property, and