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NLJ this week: Tales from three divorces

06 June 2025
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Divorce , Child law
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Political donations, a husband’s fraudulent non-disclosure, journalistic access to court documents, and what happens when an uncooperative spouse refuses to leave the matrimonial home? In this week’s NLJ, Ellie Hampson-Jones, senior associate, and Carla Ditz, knowledge development lawyer, Stewarts, look into the whys and wherefores of three recent family law cases

Hampson-Jones and Ditz also consider recently issued guidance for judges on writing letters to children and an upcoming consultation on unregulated experts in children proceedings.

Their quarterly update, 'Family law brief', considers interesting issues raised regarding the treatment of political donations for the purposes of divorce settlements in green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince’s divorce, as well as sanctions imposed on a wife who refused to leave.

Hampson-Jones and Ditz write: ‘The case provides clear guidance to practitioners where a spouse remains in occupation and deliberately obstructs the sale of a property in contravention of the intention of an order.’ 
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Legal News , Family , Divorce , Child law
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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires

HFW—Guy Marrison

HFW—Guy Marrison

Global aviation disputes practice boosted by London partner hire

NEWS
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
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