The Practical Lawyer

There is a clear need for the parties to plead their case on particular issues to 'nail their colours to the mast'. In the age of FPR 2010, judges need to rely on advocates to provide a definition of issues in their skeleton arguments, that the relevance of issues can be determined.

The local authority had not acted unlawfully in relation to its duties under the Children Act 1989 in respect of claimant (C) who was a pregnant 17-year-old.

The receipt of a £500,000 lottery win by W during the marriage was non-matrimonial property. However, the proportion of the prize money she then used to purchase a property which became the matrimonial home for a short period, was converted into matrimonial property for the purposes of ancillary relief.

The presumption that cohabitants are joint tenants in law and equity could be displaced where there was sufficient evidence in the parties' conduct of a different intention. The Supreme Court ruling follows a long-awaited judgment involving a cohabitation dispute and beneficial joint tenancy.

Where bankruptcy occurs during marriage, it is essential to calculate the non-bankrupt spouse's beneficial interest in the property as soon as possible. A trustee in bankruptcy can sell the marital home within three years of the order to realise the bankrupt spouse's interest.

This article, which will prove useful to practitioners involved in public law for children, looks at a recent case involving legal professional privilege, and two involving the court's jurisdiction to grant injunctions.

In order to give proper weight to factors under s25 MCA, W ought to have a measure of financial security above what would be offered by a simple Duxbury calculation in respect of her financial needs.

The parents' brief reconciliation did not end a maintenance assessment under which an absent parent was liable to pay maintenance in respect of a qualifying child to the parent with care.

Overseas surrogacy agreements are increasingly common to enable people to have a child, but domestic law is not suited to this escalating demand, particularly with its international element.

It would be less harmful to the child for unsupervised contact with F to cease than for it to continue where F's behaviour is so bad. The judge had been correct in balancing the factors of the child's potential distress and that her long term relationship with F would suffer without contact.