INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Alex Carruthers, Oliver Heeks and Sian Brooks, Hughes Fowler Carruthers
Hughes Fowler Carruthers Academy Court 94 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1DT UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7421 8383 Email: a.carruthers@hfclaw.com Web: www.hfclaw.com
Family Law: A Global Overview Family law is an important part of a country’s legal and social fabric. The rules and norms of society are reflected in the laws that dictate what happens on relationship breakdown. As such, family law is an interesting insight into how a country views relationships and the financial impact of their breakdown. This guide, hope - fully, is not only useful for professionals when considering international aspects of family law but also provides an informative guide for the layperson when considering how professionals deal with these issues in each country and offers an insight into the society of each country. Although the term “family law” is broad, it is most commonly interpreted as dealing with issues arising from relationship breakdown. This guide deals with three main areas arising from relationship breakdown, as follows. • Change in status – if a relationship breaks down then, depending on the formal status of the parties, there may be a change in status going forwards. If the parties are married, then there may be divorce proceedings or (in some countries) nullity and judicial separa - tion proceedings. Similarly, some countries have different forms of legal partnerships (eg,
civil partnerships, which are dissolved upon the relationship ending). Other, less formal arrangements (eg, cohabitation) may not require a change in legal status. • Financial consequences – when a relationship breaks down, where there have been depend - encies on either side, there will inevitably be financial consequences on its dissolution. • Childcare arrangements – in most countries, child arrangements are normally kept sepa - rate from financial issues, but clearly there are some linkages (eg, financial support for the benefit of children). These issues are separate and distinct but there can be linkages between them. By way of exam - ple, if there is a formal dissolution of the status of the parties in one country, then it is normally that country that deals with the financial conse - quences that arise. There is at least one nota - ble exception to this rule – namely, England and Wales, where the financial consequences of the breakdown of a marriage can be dealt with in that country even if the divorce itself happened abroad. However, this is the exception that proves the rule. In some countries, there are further linkages between these issues; some jurisdictions pro -
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