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 […]
Read moreTaking 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 […]
Read moreReligion, so data would suggest, is less significant in the way that British couples now tend to formalise their relationships than in previous generations. The latest marriage figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), for instance, show that just under 15 per cent of opposite sex couples married in religious ceremonies during 2020 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2020). […]
Read moreAs stark as it may seem, divorce is very much a fact of modern life. The most recent data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 113,505 opposite-sex and same-sex married couples parted in 2021 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/divorce/bulletins/divorcesinenglandandwales/2021). Although that figure is almost one-third lower than the all-time high recorded in 1993 (165,018), it […]
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 moreAlthough the disciplines dealt with by each division of the High Court differ, all maintain a similar vigour when it comes to upholding their respective authority. As my colleague Sarah Hewitt wrote on this ‘blog last month, the Family Court is not shy in exercising the full range of powers at its disposal when it […]
Read moreThe change which we have seen over the course of a single generation in the very idea of what constitutes a family would seem bewildering to those living in previous centuries. Whilst the number of marriages and divorces in England and Wales have, for instance, fallen by 22 per cent and 35 per cent respectively […]
Read moreThe end of a relationship can be a terribly difficult time. No matter how well-intentioned the individuals involved are, dealing with the breakdown of a marriage or cohabitation which might have lasted many years can produce very raw emotions. Whilst most of these situations are managed amicably, they do sometimes result in the kind of […]
Read moreThe restrictions imposed by the Government in an effort to contain the spread of the Coronavirus have led to many people across the country being forced to cease work. Those who continue have had to find creative ways of doing so with most relying on technology to overcome the difficulty of being at home during […]
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