Here is some news that is not going to come as a shock.  Not everybody involved in disputes after relationship breakdown is honest in disclosing their financial positions.  

In a previous article on this site I wrote that it was perhaps time for the court to reconsider the way it looked at the financial consequences of family violence on marriage break up. In this article I want to look at the question of family violence from a different point of view.

In December last year a case called Welch and Abney (No 2) was decided. The "(No2)" does not mean that this is the second set of people with the same name who have been in the Family Court.

Last year the Family Court decided a case of Trask & Westlake. The interesting feature in this case is something that, we think, will become more frequent: the long period of time between the separation and the time the case came to trial.

Ms A was described as a "fabulously wealthy heiress". She married Mr A when they were both in their forties, neither of them worked in paid employment during their marriage, which broke down after 17 years, leaving four children, and a pile of money.

The stories told in some cases can invite a reader to take them lightly...until you realise that these are the stories of real people, and real suffering.

In December last year a judge of the Family Court dismissed an application before him in five short sentences. That is unusual in itself. My discussion of it will not be quite as brief.

The Federal Government has proposed some further changes to the Family Law Act. Some of these deal with family violence and the press release is timed to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The decisions in some cases under the Family Law Act do not raise new issues of principle or have significantly different facts but remind us of the correct approach that needs to be taken in similar cases.

Some people entertain themselves by trying to remember or even invent collective nouns. As we know some of those collective nouns are weird, like "a murder of crows". Some are boring. What do you call a collection of experts?

A recent case from South Africa, we are told, has seemed to fix a very obvious anomaly in family law in that country.

At Pearson Emerson Meyer our lawyers all take care to keep up with the law and that means keeping up also with reports of decided cases. Keeping up to date is necessary but it can be a bit of a headache.

In most cases, when you start a relationship there are just the two of you. However at the end of the relationship, it is not unusual for there to be quite a few others wanting a seat at the table.