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A can of worms

16 May 2014 / David Burrows
Issue: 7606 / Categories: Features , Family
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David Burrows addresses the issue of set aside orders

The subject of altering an existing court order, crossed explicitly with non-disclosure, fraud and other forms of matrimonial dishonesty, has been much in the family law news; as have setting aside orders, most recently in JP v NP [2014] EWHC 1101 (Fam), Eleanor King J where the controversial “ McCartney order” (see McCartney v Mills McCartney [2008] EWHC 401 (Fam), [2008] All ER (D) 269 (Mar)) was sanctioned). The lawyer who gives advice in this area will find an array of legal and procedural principle—none of which is assisted by the inscrutable s 31F(6) of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (in operation in the new Family Court as of 22 April).

Section 31F(6) says that “any order” made by the family court can be varied, rescinded, suspended or revived. On this basis, centuries of jurisprudence, based on the principle that there must be an end to litigation, would be irrelevant in the family court (but not, perhaps, in the separate

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

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Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

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Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

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Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

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Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
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The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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