The Legal Brief - 22nd March 2023

Divorce laws that date back 50 years are scheduled to undergo a thorough review in an?attempt?to reduce hefty legal fees and?to?prevent?gruelling court?battles. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which determines how financial assets are divided after divorce, has been?heavily criticised.?Thus, justice minister Lord Christopher Bellamy has revealed plans to ask the Law Commission to examine the Act.

Due to the Act’s dependence on case law and the flexibility judges have in deciding how to distribute settlements, it has been?described?as being unpredictable and uncertain. For instance,?there are noticeable?regional?variations in how?divorces are settled. Indeed, it has been observed that financial awards given to ex-wives are more generous in London than they are elsewhere, with many courts outside of the capital preferring to give “time-limited” maintenance.

This inconsistency and lack of clear guidance has resulted in couples being forced to engage in expensive court battles to decide how their assets should be divided. This is particularly damaging to low-income couples due to the lack of legal aid in family law cases, with Baroness Ruth Deech calling this “unacceptable”.?Similarly,?the drawn-out court battles have been found to have a detrimental impact on any children involved, with Baroness Shackleton commenting on how “children are caught in the conflict”. Furthermore,?Shackleton has described the current law as “hopelessly?outmoded”?due to the legislation relying?“entirely on finance and the discretion of judges”.

Furthermore, lawyers and legal experts?have offered suggestions as to how the law could provide more clarity. For example, although prenuptial agreements are now enforceable in British law as a result of a Supreme Court ruling in 2010, legal experts believe that the contracts should be?formalised in statute and?enshrined in law. Similarly, Jo Edwards,?who is the chair of the Resolution Family Law Reform Group, comments on how greater clarity is needed in regard to spousal maintenance payments.

Despite no date being set for when the legislation will be reviewed, Bellamy announced that updates will be expected “very soon”.

Written by Imogen Ellis

Recent analysis and reporting conducted by researchers has raised a few eyebrows. The bizarre combination of experiencing snow showers, we are yet to encounter drought risks. During the recent showering season, experts have warned that parts of England are receiving unreasonable rainfall to compensate for an abnormally dry winter. Recently, a research conducted in rivers around the UK has signified?that it is at their lowest?on record for February, meaning that this will impact our accessibility?to drinking water, feed crops and more. Without unseasonably?sustained rainfall, the wet weather and snow in March has led to an increase and decrease in river flows.?

The research conducted has also reported that most farm owners are struggling?with the rising demand of vegetables as farms have barely recovered from the impacts of the intense heat last summer before facing such dry weather this year. On top of?that, farmers are having to deal with soaring pressures from energy prices that have tripled. Although this research was not only based on the UK, it also included the rest of Europe for warnings for dry conditions.?

The chances of a dry spring are high, and it has been advised that individuals remain vigilant as we cannot rely on the weather alone. Given that, the Environmental Agency is working alongside water companies to ensure water resources are made available in the best possible way.?

Written by Isadora Carvalho

After a rocky recent history, a little bit of stability appears to be heading to Credit Suisse, as the troubled bank is being rescued by one of its biggest rivals, UBS. This move isn’t without its issues though, as we will discover shortly.

The deal itself is worth $3.25bn, and will see create one of the biggest banks in Europe, and consolidate UBS’s status as the worlds largest wealth manager, with the combined firms overseeing $5 trillion in assets globally. Normally a move of this scale would meet with some resistance but, due to the dire situation Credit Suisse has been in, and their desire to see this situation solved, the Swiss Federal Council is going to make regulatory exceptions to ensure this deal goes through as quickly as possible. UBS are also facilitating the deal by paying in their own stock at a much lower level than the value of Credit Suisse, which should protect them from any unknown financial issues and instability, but whether this perceived lack of risk will settle investors or not remains to be seen.

It is also foreseeable that, as with many acquisitions or mergers, a large number of redundancies will follow this move. You would imagine there is a large amount of staff overlap between the two businesses, as they operate in the same sector, which could put the jobs of many people on the Credit Suisse side at risk. It is more likely that the existing UBS employees would have the slightly more secure jobs, as the acquiring company is often in the stronger position when it comes to choosing who stays/goes.

There does appear to be one unexpected casualty from this acquisition though; bond holders. Traditionally, bond holders take precedence over equity holders, leading to a perception that bonds are a safer investment. However, in this deal, $17bn in Credit Suisse bonds will be reduced in value to nothing when the deal goes through. This will trouble existing bond holders, not just in Credit Suisse, but in other banks too. It could cause other banks’ bonds to also be sold off, as people try to stabilise their investments. Much as the bonds in question are a “riskier” type of bond, with a higher yield to go with the higher risk, this overnight depreciation will still worry many investors.

UBS May have saved the day, but it will take much more to fully steady the ship going forwards.

Written by Duncan Balcon

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