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04 August 2017
Issue: 7757 / Categories: Legal News , Divorce , Family
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Divorce needs to catch up

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Our divorce laws have undergone some changes recently—but much more reform is required to catch up on societal changes, says family law solicitor Sarah Hughes, partner at Anthony Gold.

Writing in NLJ, Hughes outlines and reviews recent changes, such as forthcoming amendments (on 7 August 2017) to the Family Procedure Rules 2010, including the new ‘statement of truth’, and the creation of 11 regional divorce centres. She considers potential changes, including those related to the government’s ongoing consultation on ‘de-linking’ applications for a financial order from proceedings for a divorce. However, ‘the most important of all’ change—the introduction of ‘no-fault’ divorce—is yet to be made.

The recent refusal of a divorce to Mrs Owens, in Owens v Owens [2017] EWCA Civ 182, highlights this ‘most poignantly’, Hughes writes. See `Divorce & Dissolution' in this week's issue.

Issue: 7757 / Categories: Legal News , Divorce , Family
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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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