At a safe distance

• How the requirement as to a committal application will impact on any other applications in the proceedings.
• Is the court requited to consider the parties’ circumstances de novo on an application to vary?

One of the oddities of family law, at least from a client’s perspective, is that while the client may view “their case” in the singular, in reality, there may be several separate strands before the court, for example, the divorce (usually straightforward), financial provision (generally one application before the court, but with the potential to branch off down different routes particularly if enforcement is required), and arrangements for any children (hopefully, in most cases, capable of agreement without proceedings being issued, but sometimes not). And different rules and principles may apply to these different strands. When a scenario arises whereby separate applications and hearings are required, clients may think that this is just an opportunity for their lawyers to charge them yet more fees, but in some cases,