Matrimonial Law

An English court has reserved judgment on how to handle dozens of divorces which were finalised in error. Final divorce orders were granted between April 2022 and April 2024 in 79 cases where online submissions were received a day earlier than allowed by law, the High Court in London heard yesterday

No-fault divorces could be introduced in Northern Ireland following similar legal reforms in England and Wales two years ago. Northern Ireland's finance minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald, who has responsibility for private family law, this week told MLAs that she "will ask my officials to explore how we

Couples in Northern Ireland have just over a month left to convert a civil partnership to a marriage or vice versa. The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 created a three-year window in which same-sex couples can convert their civil partnerships into marriages

A record number of divorce applications were brought to the High Court last year, with a 10 per cent increase in cases with more than €3 million in assets at stake, according to reports. There were 53 divorce cases initiated in the High Court and 5,498 in the Circuit Court in 2022, the Irish In

AI chatbots answer questions about divorce law in Northern Ireland and the UK with an "unacceptable level of accuracy", Belfast-based SG Murphy Solicitors has warned. The firm found put ChatGPT and Google Bard to the test, asking a series of questions about divorce law and asking the chatbots to dra

Emergency legislation is needed to prevent thousands of divorcees from losing hundreds of thousands of euros in payments as a result of changes to EU law, the Law Society of Ireland has said. The Law Society today said it has alerted the Pensions Authority and practitioners to the serious effect of

Ireland is an "outlier in Europe" because of its failure to give legal recognition to prenuptial agreements, a lawyer and government minister has said. Josepha Madigan, a qualified solicitor and minister of state for special education, told The Sunday Times that the law should be changed to recognis

Lawyers expect to see a surge in divorce applications tomorrow as no-fault divorce rules come into effect in England and Wales. Couples will no longer have to allocate blame to end their marriage, nor separate for at least two years.

The divorce settlement that the ruler of Dubai has been ordered to make with his wife is the highest ever in an English court – standing at £554 million. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 72, posed a serious risk to his former wife Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, 47, who fled to Lond

Belief marriages overseen by humanist celebrants would have equal legal status with religious marriage under plans put out to consultation in Northern Ireland. The Department of Finance is seeking feedback on a number of changes to marriage laws, including an increase in the minimum age for marriage

A new private member's bill by Conservative MP Sajid Javid would raise the age at which people can marry to 18, in an effort to tackle forced marriage. The former chancellor's bill would end the current regime under which 16-year-olds can marry with their parents' consent.

Divorce lawyers have reported a sharp fall in inquiries mentioning adultery during the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside a sharp rise in inquiries mentioning "bad behaviour". London firm Vardags said inquiries mentioning adultery declined by 63 per cent during England's latest lockdown, but those citing

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are becoming more prominent in divorce proceedings as parties use them to hide their wealth, an English divorce lawyer has said. Ayesha Vardag, who acted for the successful party in Radmacher v Granatino, which reshaped the law on pre-nups in England and Wales, said

Family lawyer Claire Edgar, partner at Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors, examines the issue of equality in divorce settlements. It is 20 years since the House of Lords handed down the seminal judgement of White v White, which decided that, when determining each spouse’s contribution to the ma

Legislation has come into effect in Northern Ireland allowing civil partnerships to be converted into marriages and vice versa. Under The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, same-sex couples can for the first time convert their civil partnerships into marriage