Hylton-Potts – Free Legal Advice, Divorce Lawyer, Beneft Fraud & Motoring Offences

Pre-nuptial agreement

A strong Court of Appeal has decided that a pre-nuptial agreement will be relevant factor in a divorce settlements, it is carefully drafted with proper safeguards, to avoid the stress and expense of a fully contested financial divorce battle.

(Radmacher CA 13 July 2009)

We can draft an agreement for you £200 plus VAT including all advice.

Custody of Pets

View our 8 step guide to winning custody of your beloved pets here

If you wish to go ahead please contact Rodney by phone on 020 7381 8111 or email law@rh-p.net

Family law for gay men and lesbians

Child Support with both parents in UK

This is dealt with by a government agency not the court although it can intervene with “topping up” if the family is wealthy.

The CSA uses information from both parents to decide if someone has to pay child maintenance and to work out the amount of maintenance that should be paid. They may also use information from other sources, including the non-resident parent’s employer or HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The CSA work out child maintenance by applying one of four rates to the non-resident parent’s income. Income is earnings, money from an occupational or personal pension, and tax credits. They use the amount of income left after things like income tax, National Insurance and any money paid into a pension scheme have been taken off.

The child maintenance calculator will provide you with a rough guide to how much child maintenance you may be asked to pay or might expect to receive based on the rules for the current scheme.

Click here to calculate your child maintenance payments

CSA – www.csa.gov.uk – phone 0845 713 4000

The maximum income on which the CSA payments are calculated is £2,000 per week.

It is calculated on the basis of net weekly income;

15% for 1 child
20% for 2 children
25% for 3 children or more

Net income is net of tax, NI and Pension contributions.

Roughly speaking this come to a maximum of;

£ 300/week for 1 child

£ 400/week for 2 children£ 500/week for 3 children

There are deductions from this if a paying parent has other children in his/her care.

Scale reductions according to 1 child, 2 children or 3 or more.

There are also deductions where the child being supported spends more than 51 nights a year with the paying parent.

When the maximum figure is reached, the court has jurisdiction in respect of top-up maintenance for higher earners.

High earner is defined as anyone earning more than £2000 net per week (£104,000 p.a.)

For further advice on Child Support and the legal world it lives in, call 0207 381 8111 for free and impartial advice off our well informed legal team.

Parental responsibility.(PR)

What is it? Does the father need it? If so, how does he get it.

Unmarried Fathers can acquire parental responsibility in any of the following ways:

(a) By jointly registering the child’s birth with the mother (for births registered after 1 December 2003) you will automatically gain parental responsibility (i.e. there will be no separate official document stating that you have PR).

It is the date of registration, not the date of birth which is important in determining whether the father has parental responsibility.

(b) By re-registering the birth for pre December 2003 registrations to add the father’s details you will automatically gain parental responsibility.

You would either need the mother to attend with you or provide a formal declaration of agreement that your name is to be added to the birth record.

NB: the birth can only be re-registered if the father’s name was omitted from the original registration. If it is already there, you cannot re-register, and therefore you cannot gain parental responsibility by this means.

(c) By subsequently marrying the mother of the child you automatically gain PR.

(d) By obtaining a residence order from the court (PR is a ‘by-product’ of the residence order) you will automatically acquire parental responsibility, although in this form PR will terminate when the resident order ends (usually age 16).

(e) A birth parent can sign a parental responsibility agreement on form C(PRA1) according to the Children Act 1989. This document itself will signify that you have parental responsibility for the child).

(f) A step-parent’s PR agreement can be made by consent with all those already having PR for the child on form C(PRA2) according to the Children & Adoption Act 2002.

(g) By obtaining a parental responsibility order from the court. The order will specifically state that the court has granted you parental responsibility.

(h) By obtaining an adoption order from the court.

Only with (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) will you obtain a document that explicitly states that the father has parental responsibility for the child. With the other means of obtaining parental responsibility there will be no separate documentation confirming parental responsibility, the documentation of the status acquired (marriage, child’s birth
certificate, etc.) being themselves evidence of parental responsibility.

Consult the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Anti-Shared Parenting Arguments and Rebuttals

Assertion

“Children do not like to have two homes”

Rebuttal

What is best for children is to have both parents raising them in one happy united home, but if that is not possible, it is better for them to have two homes, than to lose a loved and loving parent.

A majority of children whose separated parents raise them equally are positive about it.

For contact problems, speak to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

CHILD ABDUCTION

A rising number of international marriages and a global mobility of the workforce within the EU and beyond has led to a sharp rise in international child abduction cases.

Many countries are within the Hague Convention the principles of that Convention are not accepted in much of the Islamic world, where the result may clash with religion-based law.

Also many Asian and African Countries are not parties.

If therefore a child is abducted into one of those non-Convention countries proceedings have to be taken in the Court of that country to get the child back.

If a child is taken to a Convention country different rules apply. The underlying principle is that the Courts of the country where the child was last habitually resident is the proper place for proceedings.

There the parents’ claim is brought in the UK and notified to the Child Abduction Unit to the country where the child is, to show cause why there should not be an automatic return to the UK. The Child Abduction Unit has a questionnaire on its website.

Specialist Lawyers should be consulted without delay.

Rodney Hylton-Potts has 25 years experience in this field. Consult the Experts 24 hour helpline and e-mail service.

We are experts in child abduction – blindingly fast service, total focus, reasonable fees, great success rates.

0207 301 8111

law@rhplaw.co.uk

Shared Residence Orders

For some time, Shared Residence Orders (SRO) were rare, as it was considered they would only work in situations of close co-operation between the parents.

This has changed and now they are being granted in situations of bitter conflict.

An SRO has been granted to a man who was not the natural father even though the children only spend alternate weekends with him (which is the usual regime).

Judges are using these orders to send a strong message to both parents, that they are equal in the eyes of the law, and that overriding concern is the best interest of the children.

Divorce after sale service

On a lighter note, but also seriously, once a year we have a get together/supper for all the clients we have got divorced that year.

We have had many hilarious evenings, but also found that there is a lot of support for each other, and sometimes a new romance!

The ladies often have new, glamorous, blonde hairstyles, and their own Mercedes parked outside. Sometimes the ex husbands have nicked themselves shaving, have a grubby collar and perhaps drink a little too much.

By and large when taken out of the divorce fighting arena, they are all, invariably, very nice people, and good parents and relieved and supported to see that other people also went through the mill.

It puts things in perspective.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Hit Him hard while guilt is high

A philandering husband goes off with his secretary. He then regrets it, feels guilty, but the wife will not take him back.

Hit him hard while the guilt is high.

Do not get mad, ladies, get even. Hit him in the pocket and get him to agree an excellent settlement while guilt runs high. It will not last for ever.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Conduct in Divorce

Generally the Judge does not give a hoots who divorces whom or on what grounds. He does not care who slept with who, got drunk with whom, or behaved unreasonably.
He does not care if a man puts work before his family, leading to a divorce breakdown. He does not care if the wife has ten lovers.

None of this is relevant to the division of family assets, so he does not want to know, unless the conduct is “gross and obvious”. These are the more serious cases such as:

• Child Abuse
• Adultery in the matrimonial bed
• Serious violence involving breaking bones

Then the Judge will take conduct into account and punish the guilty party.

Raising the issue of conduct in a battle over money is an important one and can have huge cost implications.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Bitterness in Divorce

Wives may get what appear to husbands to get too much money in a divorce battle, but sometimes the one thing that infuriates them is that their (often older) husband can still “pull” and attract younger women, whereas they have to settle often for a new partner who is older than they are, and probably divorced and down at heel himself.

Some ladies turn to “toy boys”.

This basic fact on the real world causes much bitterness.

Consult the experts as to how this impacts on tactics.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Expat/Non-UK Divorces

We can advise you on obtaining or dealing with a UK divorce, if you are living abroad.
Also if you have been served with papers from an overseas jurisdiction, including the United States.
The language of the documents can be confusing, and sometimes not even in English, we can help you through the minefield quickly and cheaply.

Fixed fees generally apply. £250 + VAT if someone is divorcing you in overseas jurisdiction.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

Why you need a plan

Your own will and estate plan enables you and your family to answer such questions as:

• Who will look after my children if both my partner and I die prematurely?
• How can I prevent my children inheriting too much too young?
• How can I protect my assets if one of my children divorces?
• What if my partner remarries after my death – will my children’s inheritance be protected?
• How can I be confident that my partner will be properly cared for when I am gone? Does it make a difference if we are not married?
• Have I done everything I can to minimise the inheritance tax burden on my family?
• What happens if I become too ill to make important decisions?
• How can I legally make decisions on behalf of my parents if they are no longer able to make those decisions for themselves?

Consult the expert. Over 25 years experience.

Rodney Hylton-Potts

020 7381 8111 or e-mail law@rhplaw.co.uk

Have a Second Bite in London

If you have been divorced abroad and received a poor settlement, e.g. in the Middle East, Nigeria, or another jurisdiction dominated by men, consider filing a financial claim in London.

The Supreme Court has ruled that it is lawful to top up awards made abroad, so if you were disappointed with your first bite at the cherry contact the experts.

For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

How to get value for money from your advisers

Solicitors are trained, expensive professionals. They are not emotional props, or your friends.

“If you want a friend, buy a dog”.

Take Domestic Violence

“The husband hits the wife. She phones her solicitor and spends 30 minutes recounting her tales of woe. This phone call will costs her £200 + VAT or more, and on top of that she still has the bruises and the humiliation. Instead she should:

1. As soon as she is able after the attack, get photographs taken by a relative or friend and have 5 colour prints made, which should be signed and dated on the back by the friend, or downloaded and emailed to herself and her lawyer.
2. Immediately write a dispassionate account of the incident and what led up to it, in chronological order.
3. Visit her Doctor to ask him to examine her and made a note of her injuries and her account of what happened. Explain to the doctor he or she could be asked to provide a medical report later for use by her legal team.
4. Telephone the police to ask then to note her complaint and possibly to proceed further. Note the crime reference number.
5. Then telephone her solicitor to brief him about what happened.

She now has the evidence in the bag to proceed to obtain a Court Injunction, so that if the husband repeats his conduct, she can apply to commit him to prison for contempt of court. This usually does the trick.

Keeping a chronology

Keep a diary of all events and incidents you think could be relevant on a chronology.
Make notes especially of acts of violence or those relating to money or the children.
The fact that you write up your diary promptly of itself makes it more likely that the Judge will believe what you write

We can provide you with a template for a chronology both in Word and Excel free of charge.

Come to the experts. For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or emaillaw@rhplaw.co.uk.

Fathers can win residence orders

Recent decisions show that the courts are increasingly prepared to transfer residence to the father where mothers repeatedly block contact arrangements.

High-profile protests by pressure groups such as Fathers 4 Justice have fostered the perception that fathers face unfair treatment from the courts, when it comes to recognition of their role in their children’s lives. Fathers face considerable difficulties when it comes to enforcing orders for contact with their children, in the face of mothers who are determined to obstruct those orders.

However, the family courts are becoming increasingly unwilling to tolerate such behaviour and have new provisions available to enforce contact orders (including community service penalties) by virtue of the Children and Adoption Act 2006, which came into force last year.

A number of recent reported decisions show that the courts are also willing to take the ultimate step to ensure children do not lose their relationship with their fathers, and will transfer residence between parents where absolutely necessary.

These decisions may compel obstructive mothers to encourage the relationship between father and child and, perhaps, to recognise that their behaviour can ultimately result in their ‘losing’ their child.

Transferring residence

On 4 January 2010, in the Family Division of the High Court, His Honour Judge Bellamy ordered that a child (S), aged 11, who had always lived with his mother, should now live with his father.

The parents separated in September 1997 and their son, S, was born in March 1998. The father made his first contact application in June 1999, and more than ten years of litigation followed.

S had not had any contact with his father since February 2006, almost four years before the final hearing before HHJ Bellamy, and there had been a failed contact order providing for S to spend time with his half-siblings in July 2009.

Assessing wishes and feelings

The judge found that S had become completely alienated from his father, and had no wish to see his him, let alone go and live with him.

However, expert evidence was provided to the court by a consultant adult psychiatrist who said that “the child’s expressed wishes and feelings are irrational and should form no part in the court’s decision making”.

The judge said that it would be wrong for a court to ignore a child’s true wishes and feelings, as this would be contrary to existing case law as well as both the welfare checklist and the United Nations Conventions of the Rights of Child. However, he went on to say that S’s expressed wishes and feelings needed to be assessed in the light of his age and understanding, and that, when considering the weight which should be attached to them, the impact of alienation and the fact that S’s expressed wishes and feelings might not be his true wishes and feelings should be taken into account.

The judge found that the mother had opposed and undermined contact between S and his father, but the judgment makes clear that she had been a good mother in most other respects.

HHJ Bellamy had an extremely difficult task in balancing all the competing factors, and, following a detailed analysis, concluded that “traumatic though it may be in the short term, it is in the best interests of S’s long-term welfare for him now to live with his father”.

Shared residence

There has been an increasing trend for fathers to seek orders for shared residence rather than contact, and such orders are increasingly becoming the norm in the Principal Registry of the Family Division in London, regardless of whether a child’s time is shared equally between parents.

Shared residence orders are now commonly made in cases where the court takes the view that the label of shared residence is a useful tool to reinforce to both parents that they have equal rights, responsibilities and duties in relation to their children and are of equal status.

A gap in the Children and Adoption Act 2006 is that the new enforcement provisions are not available to the court to order against an obstructive mother where a shared residence order has been made; the new enforcement provisions are only available to enforce contact orders.

To ensure the child has a continuing relationship with both parents, in the context of a shared residence order, the court must fall back on the established enforcement methods, including the ultimate step of transferring residence where one parent is persistently obstructing the child’s relationship with the other parent – as in the case of Re S.

So fathers- do not give up on your children- contact the expert
- For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or emaillaw@rhplaw.co.uk.

Adoption

We can handle an adoption, in an efficient, sympathetic and cost-effective way.

Contact the expert – For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or emaillaw@rhplaw.co.uk.

Cohabitation appeal ruling prompts new calls for law review

Judges hearing cohabitation claims over a former couple’s home should only depart from the principle of equal interests where there is a clear indication of joint shared intentions to the contrary/

In the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Wall said there was “a total lack of evidence about the parties’ intentions”, in this case and overturned the findings by the county court and High Court that the interests should shift to 90-10 in favour of Patricia Jones.

Ms Jones and Leonard Kernott had lived together unmarried for eight years in the house they had jointly bought in 1985 in Essex, before separating in 1993. Since then Mr Kernott has lived in his own property, leaving Ms Jones to pay for the remaining mortgage on the house and fund the upbringing and education of their two children.

“The critical question is whether or not I can properly infer from the parties’ conduct since separation a joint intention that, over time, the 50-50 split would be varied,” said the judge.and I simply cannot infer such an intention from the parties’ conduct.

“The conveyance into joint names created a joint beneficial interest, and had equal interests, when they separated .There has to be something to displace those interests, and I have come to the conclusion that the passage of time is insufficient to do so, even if in the meantime [Mr Kernott] has acquired alternative accommodation, and [Ms Jones] has paid all the outgoings.”

“In my judgment, [Mr Kernott] has a 50 per cent interest in the property,

Leading London lawyer, Rodney Hylton-Potts said, ‘There really must be a new law. It seems quite unfair that when one party pays all the outgoings, after a separation, he or she is still only get 50%. The courts must be forced to be not concerned with fairness’

If you own a property jointly with an ex-partner contact the expert:

For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or emaillaw@rhplaw.co.uk.

Rich ex-wives are sent packing by divorce judges

Senior judges are taking a tough line with former wives of millionaires who return to court seeking to reopen divorce settlements.

Judges have become concerned that the decisions of High Court, have led to London being the divorce capital of the world.

Judges have thrown out attempts by former wives to challenge the terms of their divorce awards. In the latest, the former wife of the Conservative Party grandee Sir Paul Judge failed to amend a £6.6 million divorce settlement that she received nearly ten years ago.

In another case, a wife who was awarded £7.5 million unsuccessfully tried to challenge the settlement after she claimed that the judge had wrongly calculated the division of the couple’s assets. One senior appeal judge said that neither “is ever going to experience any financial want or need”.

In another case involving a Russian couple, the same judge lamented the amount of judicial time devoted to “wasteful” litigation between super-rich couples who wanted to get divorced in London but had only a “slender connection” with the capital.

The Court of Appeal upheld a divorce that had been granted in Moscow to the Russian Oligarch Ilya Golubovich, in spite of his wife’s desire to be divorced in London.

Involved in making or defending a financial claim in a divorce case?

Consult the experts – For more information or a free legal opinion telephone 020-7381-8111 (24 hour service) or email law@rhplaw.co.uk.

10th February 2010	Could Alex ever adopt Pete’s kids? Leading family lawyer Rodney Hyton-Potts explains why Pete will not lose his children. Read the full article here