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10 April 2008 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7316 / Categories: Features , Civil way
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Civil Way: 11 April 2008

Remarriage after a lump sum
New allocation questionnaires
Blow to trustees in bankruptcy
Probate war signalled
Insolvency deposits rise

RISKY BUSINESS

By a consent order, the (former) husband capitalised the periodical payments of the (former) wife at £125,000 in return for a clean break and around six months later the wife remarried. In the wife’s statement of information with the draft consent order, she had declared that she had no intention to marry or cohabit “at present”. This was also her stance in pre-order correspondence between solicitors.

The husband’s attempt at “Doing a Barder” (see Barder v Barder [1987] 2 All ER 440 and 157 NLJ 1748, p 1,764) came a cropper in the Court of Appeal in Dixon v Marchant [2008] EWCA Civ 11, [2008] All ER (D) 160 (Jan) by a majority. Unfortunately for the husband, when he made his first offer to capitalise at £75,000 it was in issue whether or not the wife was then cohabiting with the man she came to marry.

Now, not never ever

Lord Justice Ward (giving the lead majority judgment) said that

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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