Has forum shopping had its day?

London is regularly referred to as the ‘divorce capital of the world' principally because the law in England and Wales is felt to favour the economically weaker spouse.  It is generally felt that the wife of a rich man is likely to be better off getting the divorce resolved in England than elsewhere.  If possible London is the obvious place to go for such a spouse.  (I have written here before about the ‘race to divorce' this can create.)

We have seen another phenomenon in recent years too: domestic forum shopping.  That is when a divorcing party who lives in England or Wales but outside London brings his or her case in London or another distant court in the hope of a better outcome.

Often parties choose to have their divorce dealt with in the Principal Registry of the Family Division rather than at their local county court.  Sometimes this is because they have decided to instruct London based lawyers and the London court...

Read the full article here.