News/Blogs  

  SURROGACY AND ‘A CAUTIONARY REMINDER’  

Published on 05 November, 2024 | Emma Dewhurst

Regular readers of the Hall Brown ‘blog will have noticed that certain themes tend to feature on a repeated basis over time. That reflects the casework which we handle as much as changes in the law and significant judgments. One topic which continues to generate all three is surrogacy. The fact that it is regarded […]

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  FAMILIES, FAIRNESS AND ‘FILTERS’  

Published on 23 October, 2024 | Emma Hubbard

Almost exactly two years ago, the President of the Family Division of the High Court, Sir Andrew McFarlane, gave a speech in which he described that contested children proceedings “should be the option of last resort” (https://www.judiciary.uk/speech-by-the-president-of-the-family-division-when-families-fall-apart-do-they-fall-too-easily-into-court/). He added that the family court “must, in most normal cases, presume that it is in the child’s […]

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  ROAD SENSE: FINANCIAL PLANNING, RELATIONSHIPS AND EDUCATION  

Published on 22 October, 2024 | Madelaine Hailey

Wouldn’t it be nice to know what the future holds? We could order our lives with a little more certainty and avoid those things which aren’t so pleasant. Yet not being able to predict what’s around the corner means that we have to make plans designed to protect ourselves and those closest to us. It’s […]

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  WHAT PRICE A TITLE?: DIVORCE AND LOST OPPORTUNITIES  

Published on 07 October, 2024 | Izzy Walsh

Divorce can be a very emotional and intensely personal experience. However, no matter the individuals circumstances of a couple’s relationship, the process by which they end their marriage is common to all. When it comes to the financial terms of their separation, there is an emphasis on arriving at a settlement which is fair to […]

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  THE PRIVATE CONSEQ UENCES OF PUBLIC SERVICE: PENSIONS AND DIVORCE  

Published on 03 October, 2024 | Alison Fernandes

The public sector is an essential part of the fabric of the UK, providing many of the services which we regard both as familiar and essential. They include education, the emergency services, healthcare and law enforcement among others. Many of us have friends or family members working in the public sector, an indication that it […]

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  TRACK MARKS: LOCATION APPS, TRUST AND PERSPECTIVE  

Published on 19 September, 2024 | Emma Hubbard

In recent years, our increasing use of smart devices has transformed our professional and personal lives. Those changes have not been confined to younger age groups traditionally thought most alert to the emergence of new trends. Data released only last month revealed that the number of individuals of pension age with a mobile ‘phone had […]

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  GONE GIRL: ‘BENNIFER’, REFLECTION AND DIVORCE  

Published on 06 September, 2024 | Sarah Hewitt

From time to time, our national print media carry stories about a celebrity marriage ending in a so-called “quickie divorce”. Such reports, of course, fail to acknowledge the fact that all divorces in England and Wales – regardless of the renown or otherwise of participants – must follow a process which is not necessarily rapid […]

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  COHABITATION, CLARITY AND CERTAINTY AS THE ‘BANK OF FAMILY’ KEEPS ON GIVING  

Published on 29 August, 2024 | Bronwyn Warmington

Last month’s change of Government means that the economy is the subject of acute scrutiny at the moment. Labour has already warned of a £22 billion ‘black hole’ which, says the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, means that October’s Budget is “going to be painful” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0rw9edy00zt . Yet even before that happens, many households across […]

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  UNRUFFLING FAMILY FEATHERS AFTER DIVORCE: THE MERITS OF ‘BIRDNESTING’  

Published on 27 August, 2024 | Alice Rogers, Emma Dewhurst

Taking the decision to end a marriage is, in our experience, never something done lightly. One reason why so many spouses think so hard about whether to do is because of a natural sense of uncertainty about what comes next. That is particularly true when a couple have children. They don’t just need to weigh […]

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  UNDER THE INFLUENCE? DIVORCE, ONLINE ADVICE AND PERSPECTIVE  

Published on 22 August, 2024 | Alexandra Marshall

Whilst many of us might try to downplay the amount of time which we spend online, we can’t necessarily ignore the increasing impact which social media has had on our lives in the last decade or so. According to figures published in January, just over 56 million people in the UK have accounts with one […]

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