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Family law brief: August 2025

08 August 2025 / Ellie Hampson-Jones
Issue: 8128 / Categories: Features , Divorce , Family
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In the summer update, Ellie Hampson-Jones delivers a bumper Standish v Standish special
  • The Supreme Court has clarified that non-matrimonial property—including assets acquired before the marriage—should generally be excluded from the sharing principle in divorce settlements.
  • The judgment reinforced the distinction between matrimonial and non-matrimonial property, stating that the source of the wealth, not the title or transfer process, determines its classification.
  • The ruling provides a clearer framework for family law and wealth management practitioners, particularly regarding how non-matrimonial assets may become matrimonial through shared treatment over time.

On 30 April and 1 May 2025, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom heard the appeal of Mrs Standish against the decision of the Court of Appeal to reduce her divorce award by 45%, from £45m to £25m, the largest ever amount by percentage and value. On 2 July 2025, just two months after the hearing, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Mrs Standish’s appeal ([2025] UKSC 26).

This is the first case since White v White [2001] 1 AC

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
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
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
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
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
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
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