D-I-V-O-R-C-E

[rynner2]

Counselling plans for couples who want to divorce
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:40 PM on 12th July 2009

Couples will be encouraged to take marriage classes before tying the knot and will have to have counselling before divorcing under plans being announced today.
A think-tank run by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith wants to see a Tory government bring in a three-month 'cooling-off' period to prevent ill-thought-out quickie divorces.

Every Family Matters, a report by the Centre for Social Justice, recommends binding pre-nuptial agreements, lower taxes for married couples and an end to the equal legal recognition for cohabiting couples to encourage them to marry.

Mr Duncan Smith says couples could benefit from classes to tackle flashpoints in their marriage.
The report adds: 'Such courses can improve marriage, develop parenting skills and reduce divorce by 30 per cent in the first five years of marriage.'
It calls for Britain to send warring couples to intensive counselling for three months, delaying divorce so they can explore the possibility of reconciliation.
There would be exceptions for domestic violence.

The report says: 'Marriage is of paramount importance to individuals, children, communities and our nation.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... vorce.html

Good ideas, or more nanny-state-ism? I guess it might depend on your life experiences to date. Something like this, years ago, might have saved my marriage...

 

[Minipix]

This is the best idea i've heard all day.
Should especially apply where children are involved.

 

[Spookdaddy]

Sounds like another gimmick to me - a sop to the 'back to basics' crowd wrapped up in a slightly more reasoned and liberal looking package.

A think-tank run by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith wants to see a Tory government bring in a three-month 'cooling-off' period to prevent ill-thought-out quickie divorces.

Does anyone actually get divorced on a whim? This suggests people are incapable of deciding themselves when a relationship is not working. And am I wrong in thinking that, for those who want mediation in order to make a failing relationship work, the help is already there?

 

[escargot]

It already happens. I had to agree to conciliation (i.e. joint counselling) with my egregious ex as a condition of Legal Aid.

Luckily he didn't turn up, although I did, so apparently it was up to him to make a new appointment for us both. He didn't bother so that was that.

It wasn't about reconciliation, though - the idea was for couples to talk over their ideas about child custody, dividing property etc with a third party present in an attempt to prevent costly long drawn-out litigation.

 

[Layla]

Just another 'look at US, the party of decency and family values' vote grabber.

Very few people get divorced on a whim. My ex left, it took 6 months for me to even start the divorce process and then another 7 and half years to complete it. Divorces are tortuous and long drawn out and there's plenty of ways back for the couple who really want to stay together.

The thing is, is sounds good but when divorce is on the cards one partner has already checked out mentally and physically and making two people who are in pain sit in a room and talk things through which they have already addressed a hundred is not going to help, it will just make the pain worse.

Make marriages harder to get, not divorce.

 

[rynner2]

Multi-millionaire mathematician faces an 'astronomical' £19m legal bill
Dr Martin Coward is set to incur what could be the most expensive divorce bill in Britain after losing his appeal over control of the hedge fund founded with his ex-wife
By Camilla Turner
9:11PM BST 02 Oct 2014

A multi-millionaire mathematician turned hedge fund boss faces an “astronomical” £19 million pound legal bill after losing the latest round of a bitter and costly court battle with his estranged wife.

In what is thought to be the most expensive legal bill ever sustained as part of a British divorce case, Dr Martin Coward has lost his Appeal Court over control of the hedge fund Ikos which he founded in 1992 with his ex-wife Elena Ambrosiadou.

In May last year, a judge in the High Court ruled that the software Dr Coward developed while at Ikos was owned by the business which his estranged wife now runs.

Today at the Court of Appeal, Mr. Justice David Richards sitting with Lord Justice Moore-Bick and Lord Justice Ryder, upheld the High Court's decision and said the costs £6m incurred by Dr Coward and £13 million by Ikos “dwarf the great majority of civil claims, including most claims in the High Court".

Marilyn Stowe, senior partner at Stowe Family Law, the largest specialist family law film in the UK, described it as a “mind boggling, absolutely eye watering amount”.
She said: “Judges will be absolutely mortified and horrified that costs can reach that level.
“This isn’t a run of the mill, bog standard case. This is litigation at the highest level. This is a very bitterly fought case for years.”

Ms Stowe, who has been practising as a solicitor for over three decades, added: “I have never heard of a case involving such phenomenal amounts. It is astronomical."

She explained why the costs were so high compared to ordinary divorce cases: “Commercial litigation is considerably more expensive than family litigation. It is on a different scale.
“Once you have invoked a civil jurisdiction and you are involving enormous commercial assets and instructing very big commercial lawyers to litigate. With all the attendant costs you can expect an enormous bill.”

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -bill.html

 

[McAvennie]

This is the problem with party politics...

There are some people who whatever the Conservatives, or vice-versa for Labour, do they will immediately pooh-pooh it and twist the motive into some heinous protect the rich/turn us all commie plot.

I'm not saying the proposal in this instance is a great idea, I've not read enough on it to form an opinion, just observing the situation whereby potentially worthy and valid policies by either left or right parties can fail due to people being opposed to them purely because of who made the suggestion.

In this case, at first glance, it seems a fairly decent idea with the objective of keeping families together and reducing the number of children growing up in broken homes. I can just as easily see a not too far alt reality where Rachel Reeves could propose this and the comments section of The Guardian story would be full of praise.

What would be an interesting experiment would be to list say ten proposals with no indication of who proposed them in parliament, gather feedback on the actual idea and then look and see afterwards whose policies were most universally popular with left and right leaning test subjects.

 

[Cochise]

The policy was proposed in 2009 - has anything happened yet?

 

[McAvennie]

The policy was proposed in 2009 - has anything happened yet?

Blimey, the dangers of an old thread being bumped! :lol:

Would be interesting to see what did happen.

 

[emina]

I'd be very surprised if anything did happen.

If you read the OP, you'll see that it was never a "policy". It was just yet another hair-brained scheme put forward by the "Centre for Social Justice".

They're an independent right-wing group seemingly dedicated to having the state control every aspect of people's lives, all in the name of forcing people to be 'decent'.

Despite the free-market conservative appearances, they're much more statist, conformist, bureacratic and centralising than any of the socialists or europhiles they would no-doubt instinctively oppose.

They do feature Iain Duncan Smith, but I doubt he has much influence on government policy these days anyway.

 

[ramonmercado]

Nastier than usual divorce case.

Allegations of black magic, attempted murder and drug abuse have been aired in the toxic divorce of Zimbabwe’s feared vice-president.

Constantino Chiwenga, 63, who led the coup against Robert Mugabe in 2017, and his wife, Marry, a former Miss Zimbabwe, have pulled no punches in their public battle over their children, luxury cars and property portfolio.

“Marrying her was the worst mistake I made,” Mr Chiwenga stated in court papers lodged in Harare this week. He accused his estranged wife of using “cunning” to “secure a place in my life” and claimed she used “black magic” and was an abusive and violent “addict”.

He spent four months receiving medical treatment in China last year after his wife tried to murder him, he alleged.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/black-magic-divorce-sheds-light-on-zimbabwe-elite-n50fqp9lt