As a family lawyer, your main objective is to make a positive contribution to the lives of your clients. We are asked to help men and women who find themselves in a wide variety of circumstances. Our job is to listen and understand the issues involved before offering advice. The situations which we encounter are […]
Read moreThat the nature of home life has been transformed in recent decades is beyond question. Fifty years ago, there were 426,541 marriages in England and Wales. The number which took place in 2019 was just over than half that figure (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2019#age-at-marriage). There are, of course, many reasons why that is the case. A report published […]
Read moreAt Hall Brown Family Law, we understand how challenging the process can be and understand that, just as no two families are the same, those embarking on the surrogacy process need support tailored to their unique circumstances at every stage – before conception, during a pregnancy and even after their child has been born. I […]
Read moreIt continually comes as a surprise to some people to discover that most divorces are dealt with in an amicable manner. The process is quite naturally an emotional one but a majority of spouses still find it possible to bring often lengthy relationships to a close without conflict. That is not the impression which one […]
Read moreAs even the most casual glance around any one of this country’s many retail parks will demonstrate, DIY is one of the UK’s great collective hobbies. However, it is certainly not risk-free. Earlier this year, news media carried reports showing that nearly 6,000 people had to go to hospital during the previous year after accidents […]
Read moreIt is no great secret that the court system in England and Wales is facing a tremendous challenge. The volume of work which, for example, family courts deal with is immense. Just last week, the Ministry of Justice published figures showing that more than 68,000 new cases began during the first three months of this […]
Read moreEven if they’re not exactly to our personal taste, it’s impossible to deny the success of romantic novels. Over more than a century, for instance, the various titles published by the best known British imprint, Mills and Boon, have racked up many hundreds of millions of sales. The plots have been derided as formulaic and […]
Read moreAs several of my colleagues have written on this ‘blog, surrogacy has in recent years become a more familiar method relied on by heterosexual and same-sex couples to start a family. Melanie Kalina has, for instance, noted how the number of court orders transferring parental rights from surrogates to intended parents has increased considerably (https://hallbrown.co.uk/courts-baby-cotton-and-the-normalising-of-surrogacy/). […]
Read moreNo matter how much couples might not want to consider the prospect when they exchange vows, divorce is, sadly, a reality for many spouses. According to figures published the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 42 per cent of marriages end that way (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/divorce/bulletins/divorcesinenglandandwales/2020). However, arguably one of the most positive developments in family law over […]
Read moreThose involved in Family Court cases involving children are under no illusion from the very start as to what their sole focus should be. After all, the opening lines of the legislation which governs such proceedings – the Children Act 1989 – states that: “the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration” (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/section/1). That […]
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