Marilyn Stowe Blog

A 2012 review: part three

As summer arrived so did the inspiration for numerous blog posts on subjects from celebrity divorce to polygamy. Below are some blog highlights from the summer months.

July

In July I looked forward to the Olympics as Leeds played host to the Chinese Olympic team. I also reflected on the decrease in divorce rates and discussed the big celebrity divorce of the hour; that of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

I also asked a question inspired by two articles that I read in the June 2012 edition of Family Lawyer, which both posed the same question but from different angles: Do family courts discriminate against husbands, or wives? This is another topic that stirs up strong opinions so was worthy of a blog post.

I spoke about the right of divorcing couples to privacy and criticised the press in their reluctance to drop the story about Mr Justice Mostyn’s separation from Lady Mostyn. This story should have remained private but unfortunately became public property for some time.

August

I published a post from guest blogger Cameron Paterson in August, entitled ‘Surrogacy: a special case?’ In this piece Cameron looked at a High Court case involving the divorce of a couple who had a child via a surrogate mother. The husband asked the court to set aside the parental order the couple had obtained and this post examined what happened in this unusual case.

My August Solicitors Journal column looked at ‘Acting for other solicitors’. In this piece I suggested that lawyer clients should remember that family litigation is based on more flexible principles than other areas of law.

I also asked what happens when the validity of a marriage is questioned? I wrote this post for the many people who are confused about when a marriage is and is not a marriage. I examined a number of recent cases to give some clarity to this murky area.

September

At the start of September I asked ‘Who’s the daddy?’ In this post I talked about the importance of fathers being present in children’s lives whenever possible, and looked at declarations of paternity.

Another topic I broached was polygamy, which is permitted in almost 50 countries worldwide. In ‘Two’s company, three’s a crowd’ I revealed that polygamous marriage is actually recognised under UK law, provided that the marriage took place elsewhere, in a country where polygamy is legal. I also asked whether such marriages would be conducted in Britain one day.

I explained prenuptial agreements in September too, which are becoming more common and can be relevant to anyone wanting to protect their assets when getting married.

Photo by Neil T via Flickr under a Creative Commons licence