Latest News

Ashya King

The case of Ashya King the five year old cancer patient has led to a media frenzy with comment coming from everyone from Boris Johnson to Nick Clegg. But what are the legal implications of the situation? It appears that upon Asyha’s removal from hospital by his parents Portsmouth City Council made an application for Ashya to be […]

Did Cheryl have a pre-nup?

In the news today it is being reported that Cheryl Cole has married for a second time. It was confirmed that she married her boyfriend Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini earlier this month in a secret ceremony in Mustique. Cheryl revealed the news via her website saying, “I usually do not discuss my personal life but to stop the […]

Special Guardianship Allowance

At Higgins Miller we have become aware that an increasing number of people who have special guardianship orders are having difficulties in relation to obtaining financial support for the children that they are caring for. The law requires a local authority in which the special guardian lives  to consider what payments would have been made […]

Rise in unrepresented parties at court

There has been a massive increase in the numbers of people representing themselves in court in cases concerning children. Between April and December 2013 the courts saw a 57% increase in the number of those without lawyers compared with the previous year. This increase is likely to be partly due to the removal of legal […]

Domestic abuse warning ahead of the world cup

Police in England and Wales have issued warnings to those with histories of domestic violence ahead of the World Cup, due to start this week. Evidence from past competitions shows that rates of domestic violence increase dramatically during and after games regardless of the result. In one area of the UK violence rose by 38% […]

New domestic abuse guidelines

Prosecutors are to be issued with new guidelines for dealing with cases of domestic abuse concerning younger and older victims. In relation to younger victims the guidelines will direct prosecutors to consider the impact of social networking and aspects of gang culture. It will be noted that “some teenagers may not even consider themselves victims […]

Katie Price to divorce for a third time

Katie Price has announced on Twitter to announce that she plans to divorce her husband Kieran Hayler. In the tweets posted yesterday she accused her husband of having an affair with her friend, Jane Pountney, for the last seven months. Katie and Keiran were married in March 2013 and have a nine month old son, […]

Largest Family Law Reform for a generation

What has been described as “the largest Family Law reform for a generation” by the Ministry of Justice has come into force today. From today all family cases will be heard in the new Single Family Court and will be allocated to the correct level of Judge in the most suitable location by the court. […]

What counts as ‘unreasonable behaviour’

So you’ve bitten the bullet and made the decision to issue your divorce petition, you don’t want wait for two years, and you’re not quite sure if adultery is the way to go. Your Spouse is the reason your marriage has come to an end, you’ve tried all you can but you just can’t go […]