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With only 10 weeks until Christmas, it is understandable that parents who cannot see their children may be dreading the festive season. When couples separate, child arrangements are ideally made that suit both parties and the children and there is no need for court intervention. However, in the case of an acrimonious split, parents can be left with child arrangements that favour one party.

Many people might assume that if they start a claim in the Employment Tribunal, and the success of that claim depended on the meaning of a term in their employment contract, the Tribunal would be able to decide what that term meant. It seems so obvious that the Tribunal should be able to do this, that you might wonder why the question as to whether it can even has to be asked. Yet this question did have to be asked and was very recently addressed by the Court of Appeal.

A recent decision in the Supreme Court may pave the way for those that have celebrated their marriage with a religious marriage ceremony in England but failed to comply with the legal requirements for a valid marriage under the Marriage Act 1949 to obtain relief under the Matrimonial Causes Act.

Being in a lengthy relationship doesn’t afford you the same legal rights and benefits as a married couple. Some may believe that living together as ‘husband and wife’ can be viewed as a ‘common-law marriage’. Unfortunately, there is no such thing.

Often when there is an acrimonious separation, the parents’ sole focus is what arrangements should be put in place for the child to spend time with either parent, leaving those who previously played a key role in the child’s life forgotten. With childcare proving costly and with the ever increasing demands of working to support your family, grandparents are increasingly relied upon to provide much needed childcare. In addition, there are now more multi-generational households than ever, with many children accustomed to seeing their grandparents on a daily basis.