Arising from that potentially devastating news, inevitably there will be people who think they are legally divorced but in fact are still married. Worse than that, they may be relying on fictitious orders for financial provision or even have remarried bigamously. That second marriage will be invalid.
How did this happen?
Section 3(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 prohibits the issue of a divorce petition to the court within 12 months of the date of the marriage (believe it or not, some people are watching the calendar!). Some petitions were actually accepted, processed by the court administration and did proceed to Decree Absolute in breach of this provision. Those petitions and decrees are null, and void, i.e. treated as if they never existed and so anything dependent on them also falls away.
Sir James has issued guidance about what to do if you believe this may apply to you. Firstly, contact a solicitor who will advise further about referring the matter to a judge to resolve the matter. It may require a new divorce petition and the court will generously waive the fee!
Fortunately, the numbers affected are likely to be quite small. Certainly, our office has not issued any, but if you are concerned, do get in touch with Elizabeth Wyatt. Alternatively, join us on twitter @ACSPrivateCL for our live question and answer session on 18 May at 13:00-14:00.
Next in our series of ebriefings on the Government’s Green Paper: Transforming public procurement; looking at the Chapter 4 proposal to change the basis of contract awards.
The Academies Financial Handbook is updated annually by the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency; it contains a number of governance requirements for academy trusts.
Supreme Court publishes key decision for those working in the UK’s gig economy.
The 'Chocolate Snowman Appeal' is an amazing initiative that Anthony Collins Solicitors' (ACS) employees take part in every year.
The Building Safety Bill (the Bill) is said to be the most significant and wide-ranging change to the regulatory environment for higher risk building (HRBs) for over 45 years.
On 4 November 2020, the Restriction of Public Exit Payments Regulations 2020 (the Regulations) came into force; exit payments for the public sector were capped at £95,000.
The case was brought by the Official Receiver who sought disqualification orders under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (CDDA 1986) against the seven trustees of Kids Company and its CEO. It illustrates well the tension between the role of a fulltime paid CEO of a large charity and the role of its board as voluntary trustees/directors.
At the end of 2020, The Charity Governance Code was updated or 'refreshed' as it is termed on its website.
Anthony Collins Solicitors is today (Thursday 11 February) revealing the scale of its social impact during 2020.
In their first podcast of this series, current and future trainees will discuss their journey and route to securing a training contract at Anthony Collins Solicitors.
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