Johnson Legal Family Law News & Blog

Cost of living crisis expected to exacerbate high January divorce figures

cmathison2024-02-21T11:09:13+00:00January 5th, 2023|Cost of Living, Divorce, Divorce & Dissolution of Civil Partnerships|

As Christmas 2022 comes to a close, Family Lawyers across Scotland are preparing for their busiest time of the year.

In our experience, Christmas can be the final straw for relationships that have been delicate for some time. The cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated this further with heightened financial concerns magnifying issues.

My team is on New Year alert, expecting a flood of enquiries. Search queries for divorce on google in January and February can be between 10 per cent and 30 per cent higher than the average, whilst online visits to our divorce and separation webpages are 30 per cent higher during […]

Focus should always be on what’s best for the children at Christmas

cmathison2024-02-21T10:57:55+00:00November 14th, 2022|Children & parenting issues, Christmas, Co-Parenting, Separation Agreements|

Christmas can be a wonderful time of the year for families however, it can also be a difficult time for separated parents. As Head of Family Law at Johnson Legal Family Law, I’ve been helping families with their Christmas co-parenting arrangements for over 25 years.

Communicating effectively with your ex-partner is one of the most important aspects to a smooth Christmas. One of my colleagues, Fiona Mundy, recently trained as a coach with the New Ways for Families training programme. The pilot is run by Shared […]

Managing your Co-Parenting Arrangements at Christmas

cmathison2024-02-21T11:00:05+00:00October 14th, 2022|Children & parenting issues, Christmas, Co-Parenting, Separation Agreements|

Top tips for managing Christmas arrangements for children when separated

Christmas can be a wonderful time of the year for children however, it can be an incredibly stressful time for separated parents if co-parenting arrangements cannot be agreed.

The Family Law team at Johnson Legal has years of experience in helping parents to manage their Christmas plans.

Here’s some of our top tips around how to make the festive period easier for you and your children:

Plan your Christmas arrangements now: It’s worth thinking about Christmas and holiday plans as early as possible when considering festive co-parenting […]

Separation and divorce during the cost-of-living crisis

cmathison2023-03-09T09:09:55+00:00August 24th, 2022|Divorce & Dissolution of Civil Partnerships|

It’s safe to say that the temperatures have started to drop. Summer heatwaves have quickly become a distant memory. Alongside the horrifying thought of having to retrieve your coat from the cupboard, thoughts are also turning to thermostats and the cost of heating homes this winter. The headlines have moved on from COVID-19 to the cost-of-living crisis, and the warnings should not be taken lightly. People are facing a level of inflation that hasn’t been seen for fifty years and energy bills are predicted to reach record levels. As a result, it’s clear that everyone will feel the inevitable […]

Advice for newly engaged couples

cmathison2022-11-14T14:46:27+00:00July 21st, 2022|Prenuptial|

Family Law covers relationships from the start. Our Senior Associate Hayley Mitchell has recently become engaged, and we asked her what advice she would give to other couples at this happy time.

Hayley says:

“I have to practice what I preach! Strong relationships need good communication about tricky issues including money and about what might happen in the future. There is never a better time to reach agreement on these matters than at the point in your relationship when you truly love and trust each other.

We have decided to use Johnson Legal to write up a written agreement […]

Changing Your Legal Name

cmathison2023-03-09T09:08:12+00:00July 12th, 2022|Divorce & Dissolution of Civil Partnerships|

“What’s in a name… a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is mused famously by Juliet in Shakespeare’s epic play about love and despair.

It has become commonplace in Scotland for a change of name to take place when a couple gets married. Traditionally the wife adopts the husband’s surname, and their children are also traditionally known by the paternal surname.

In Scottish Law, a wife becomes legally known by her husband’s surname once she’s been married. If a married woman raises court proceedings, particularly family law court proceedings, she will be described in those court […]

Navigating the summer holidays as separated parents

cmathison2022-10-13T09:23:08+00:00June 10th, 2022|Children & parenting issues|

After two years of holidays being postponed and cancelled, summer 2022 holds an enormous amount of promise. The world is calling and the people of Scotland are on their way!

For many separated parents, the summer holidays can throw your schedule totally off track. Managing childcare arrangements and foreign travel can lead to a stressful summer of arguments and tension if left to the last minute.

Here are some Family Law tips for planning a holiday between separated parents:

Leave plenty of time to make plans

Each regional Council publishes a school holiday calendar online at least twelve months […]

Who gets the pets?

cmathison2022-08-09T14:28:59+00:00May 18th, 2022|Separation Agreements|

In a country of animal lovers, our office at Johnson Legal is no exception. We are a dog friendly workplace with a resident dachshund and most of the staff have beloved furry friends at home.

In October 2020, we published a blog post about pet ownership for separating couples. We explained that Scottish Law considers your adored pet to be an item of property. There is no automatic presumption of shared ownership of a pet, even between a married couple. Proving ownership can be challenging, as one couple recently discovered when they decided to bring their dispute before the […]

Mental Health Awareness

cmathison2022-05-10T14:52:08+00:00May 10th, 2022|Family Law News|

When Yasmin, our excellent office manager, asked Beverley Johnson a year ago if she could have a dachshund puppy in the office, Beverley said yes without hesitation. She knew Yasmin was an extremely reliable and responsible member of staff, and after all, how much difference could a puppy make?

Once Elvis – the cutest and maddest puppy – arrived in the office, we all wondered what on earth we had done! There were chewed shoes, shredded papers, numerous “accidents” and persistent barking when Yasmin left the room or when someone walked past the window. However, a year later we […]

Implications of accidental co-habiting relationships formed during lockdown

cmathison2022-05-09T07:00:04+00:00May 9th, 2022|Family Law News|

As we enter a post COVID-19 era, the question we have asked ourselves is – have solicitors seen an increase in cohabiting relationships as a direct result of the pandemic? Perhaps a more interesting question that I regularly consider is, has the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a relationship accelerant? You may have found yourself living with your partner during the pandemic which may not have been the case if lockdowns had never been imposed. For many couples, this may also have been a lot sooner in their relationship than expected. Assuming you are in still in that co-habiting relationship, […]