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Making a break

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07 September 2012 / Margaret Hatwood
Issue: 7528 / Categories: Features , Divorce , Family , Damages , Personal injury , Ancillary relief
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How do you protect a client’s PI damages prior to family proceedings, asks Margaret Hatwood

Are your client’s personal injury (PI) awards at risk in the family courts? The short answer to this is yes and now more so than ever before. The fuzzy discretion of the family courts has now intruded into the PI lawyer’s arena. Could a PI lawyer be negligent if he or she does not protect his client’s damages? Quite possibly must be the answer to that.

Although the family courts have for many years regarded damages for personal injuries as part of the matrimonial pot available for division, historically, the awards made have been relatively small in terms of both amount and percentage. However, a recent case, Mansfield v Mansfield [2011] EWCA Civ 1056, [2011] All ER (D) 87 (Sep) has changed all that.

Division of financial assets

Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) the family courts, in dealing with the division of assets, have to have regard to the factors

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