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18 November 2020 / Linda Lamb
Categories: Opinion , Family , Divorce
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Break point?

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Linda Lamb looks into reports of a recent surge in divorce enquiries & makes the case for ADR

Citizens Advice has highlighted a surge in requests for guidance on divorce searches over the summer lockdown. Already, there are disputes on social media between family lawyers claiming that this is false and others attest there has been a surge in new enquiries.

This sounds similar to the debate that happens every year between family lawyers about whether there is a surge in couples wanting to separate post-Christmas (the oft reported ‘Divorce Day’). From my own experience, and also the noise on the grapevine in family circles, the surge in divorces expected is true.

It seems credible that the chinks in family relationships would become more obvious when families have been forced to spend many months together without respite. We see this with the ‘silver splitters’, where there has been a recent increase in the number of long term partners seeking to split as they head into retirement. After facing every day together, some

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London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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