Family Law News Edinburgh

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Government Publishes Scrutiny of Cohabitants’ Rights

Last month the Scottish Government announced a post-legislative review of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006.

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Senior Judge Says Divorce Could be Online within a Few Years

One the UK's most senior family law judges has advised that major changes could be coming to the ways divorces are conducted, with technology continuing to play a much larger role in proceedings.

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Heterosexual Couple Lose Civil Partnership Case

A heterosexual couple have lost their legal battle to be allowed to enter into a civil partnership. Rebecca Steinfeld, 34, and Charles Keidan, 39, are both academics who live in Hammersmith, west London and are engaged and have been in a relationship for over five years. The couple also have a young son together.

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Ex-Spouses Can No Longer Inherit Without Provision

The Succession (Scotland) Bill has passed its final stage in the Scottish Government. This is the first major reform to succession law for over 50 years. Many people consider current succession laws to be outdated and in pressing need of reform.

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It’s Not Too Late for a New Year’s Resolution – Write a Will

In January we typically reflect on the year we have had and think about things in our lives that we want to change in the coming months. Many people make a pledge to lose weight, get fit or learn a new language. By this point in January, these ambitions have usually been abandoned. However, it’s not too late to do one straightforward thing that can give you peace of mind and secure your children’s future: write a will.

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Why Might it be Best to Formally End Your Relationship?

January is traditionally the month where we pack away the last of the Christmas decorations, join a gym and start a new hobby for a week or two. We tend to reflect on the year we have had and think about changes we want to make in the future.

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2016 - The Year of the Cohabitation Agreement?

As December comes to an end we tend to look back over the year we have had. 2015 has been a very significant year for Scottish family law as the first same sex marriage ceremonies were held last Hogmanay, showing how much Scottish family life has changed over time. Before the New Year begins we can start to think about what might be the biggest family law trend of 2016.

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Age UK Christmas Campaign

Christmas is a time of traditions. We put up the tree, complain about the non-stop Christmas songs on the radio and look forward to spending time with our loved ones. Over the past few years we have become familiar with some very modern Christmas traditions such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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Staying Together For the Sake of the Children

This week has been Resolution’s Family Dispute Resolution Week. Resolution is an organisation made up of 6,500 family lawyers and related professionals in England and Wales. Their guiding principal is approaching family law matters in a non-confrontational and collaborative way.

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Rise in Divorce Rates Amongst the Over 60s in Scotland

The BBC recently reported that the number of divorces in England and Wales has been falling since the 1990s. However, one age group which has seen a rise in divorce rates is the over 60s. Indeed, the Office for National Statistics noted that there has been a rise of 73% in the number of divorces in this group over the past 25 years.

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Adopters Overlook Older Children in Favour of Younger According to Study

Research has revealed that children above the age of four are overlooked for adoption in favour of babies and toddlers.

The new research comes from Barnardo’s Scotland and found that babies and toddlers were far more likely to be adopted than older children. The stats were published in their report titled Too Old at Four?

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New Adoption Service to Aid Scots Families

A new adoption service is being created in the hope of improving links between children and foster families. Following the closure of the British Association for Adoption (BAAF) and Fostering, Children's Minister Aileen Campbell announced that The Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland (AFAS) will be stepping in to cover services.

The AFAS will handle the training, consultancy and a helpline for the public and professionals, as well as be responsible for the smooth transition from BAAF Scotland. The changes to the Scottish adoption operation comes following St Andrew's Children's Society being appointed to run Scotland's Adoption Register in July and a £75,000 investment in adoption services in Scotland.

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What Can Cohabiting Couples do to Protect Their Assets

The latest Scottish Household Survey has revealed that the vast majority of Scots are not married or in a civil partnership.

As such, we take a look at the findings in regards to family law and assess what you may need to do in order to protect yourself from some of the issues affecting others in Scotland.

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Leading UK Adoption Agency Closes

A major adoption and fostering charity in the UK has closed down with immediate effect after citing that it suffered as a result of“significant changes and economic conditions” which made it impossible for them to keep operating.

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), had been aiding vulnerable children for more than 30 years, but closed at the start of August and is now being run by administrators.

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Why is There No Such Thing As Gay Adultery in the UK

A woman is campaigning for a change in the law after she was unable to divorce her husband of 20 years on grounds of adultery as he only had affairs with men.

Under the UK, law adultery does not count if the person has had sex with a member of the same sex. The woman, who spoke on BBC Radio 4 while hiding her identity attempted to obtain a divorce citing adultery but was informed by her lawyer that she was unable to. She was instead forced to cite unreasonable behaviour as the reason for divorce with adultery not being an option as he only had affairs with the same member of sex.

Although she opted to divorce him under unreasonable behaviour and that such a citation did not affect the financial outcome when separating she is still attempting to reform the law as she is in the minority of people who: "care hugely about the betrayal and want to know that somebody somewhere has recognised that".

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Ex-Wife Wins All of Husband's Estate

In a landmark case for the UK, a woman has been awarded her ex-husband's entire fortune and estate in a divorce battle.

Enas Aly was awarded the £550,000 assets her ex-husband Dr Essam Aly owned after he allegedly "washed his hands" of his family according to a judge. Despite claiming that the decision was “unfair” the decision against the hospital consultant was deemed fair by judges, with the court stating that he neglected his family when he left the UK.

The judge stated that Dr Aly treated his so badly that his wife and children deserved “the lionshare if not all” of the compensation. Dr Aly had not been paying child support to his ex-wife leading to his wife winning his assets. In total, Enas Aly was awarded the lump sum from the sale of a house as well as £310,000 from her former husband's bank account. Dr Aly had left the UK and stopped paying child support.

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High Profile Celebrity Couple Divorce

Celebrity couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have announced that they will be getting a divorce following almost ten years of marriage.

The announcement came following a joint statement on the matter after the mainstream had reported a potential divorce. The couple, who have three children, have confirmed that Affleck will continue to live separately on the same property as Garner for the sake of his children and the family.

According to multiple media sources, the couple is worth at least $150 million and announced their divorce a day after their tenth wedding anniversary. According to numerous sources, the couple did not have a prenuptial agreement but will work with managers, business managers and mediators to negotiate their settlements from the divorce. It has already been announced that they have agreed to share custody of their three children.

The negotiation process could take a relatively long time as although Ben Affleck has had more success on the big screen, a substantial amount of capital comes from syndication from Garner’s former show Alias. The negotiations may also be drawn out over the numerous properties owned by the couple with an LA ranch, a Manhattan apartment, a ski chalet and an 83-acre estate in Georgia.

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A DIY Led to Losing “Half a House.”

A daughter is taking legal action against Barclays after she alleged that a botched will from the bank led to her losing half her stake in her late father’s home.

The woman is attempting to secure hundreds of thousands of pounds after she claimed that she lost a valuable stake in a property as a result of the mistake. Barclays have contested the claim despite an assessment by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which found that the bank was fault. The Ombudsman ordered Barclays to pay "a fair and reasonable settlement" however, this has been ignored by the bank. The case now goes to the High Court.

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Women Challenge Unfair Divorce Settlements

Two women are appealing to have their divorce settlements overturned after they claim they were tricked into accepting unfair divorce settlements.

Alison Sharland and Varsha Gohil both claim that they were duped into accepting unfair divorce settlements after their husbands allegedly misled judges about how much they earned and how much they were worth.

The landmark case could have much larger implications for divorce proceedings and could lead to numerous people appealing their divorce settlements.

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Council Services to Merge to Improve Adoption Rates In England

Councils in England are to merge services to improve adoption rates according to plans to be announced in the Queen’s speech. The move comes following as adoption is “happening at too small and localised a scale” according to the Department for Education.

The new bill will force authorities to merge local adoption services if they fail to do so themselves within two years.

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