header-logo header-logo

06 June 2025 / Ellie Hampson-Jones , Carla Ditz
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Features , Family , Divorce , Child law
printer mail-detail

Family law brief: June 2025

221400
In this instalment of their quarterly NLJ update, Ellie Hampson-Jones & Carla Ditz analyse three notable cases, plus recent developments in family law
  • This update considers three recent reported cases, as well as two important developments in family law, namely, guidance for judges when writing to children, and an upcoming public consultation on the instruction of unregulated experts in children proceedings.

Vince v Vince [2024] EWFC 389

There has been much publicity in the legal and national press about the publication in December of two judgments in the matter of Dale and Kate Vince. This is not the first time Mr Vince has been the subject of high-profile court proceedings; many will have first come across the green energy entrepreneur in the 2015 Supreme Court proceedings brought by his former wife, Kathleen Wyatt.

The present proceedings occurred following the breakdown of Mr Vince’s marriage to Kate Vince. The parties were married in February 2006, but there was some debate in this case as to when the parties’

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

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
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’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
back-to-top-scroll