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Presenting financial remedy ‘needs’ cases after the Family Justice Council Report
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Rhys Taylor reflects upon the conduct and presentation of the ‘needs’ case referred to in the Family Justice Council/Roberts J Report
So it turns out that needs are as an elusive a concept as fairness. It all depends. Check out the postcode. The higher the standard of living the more refined the notion of need becomes. Cases with a pot of up to £5M are routinely described by the courts as ‘needs cases’.
The needs case is what occupies the family lawyer for most of the time despite what the law reports might have you otherwise believe. There are certain common building blocks to a needs case often seemingly overlooked in that charge to a final hearing. Sometimes it appears that the imperative to actually
persuade the judge got lost in the (admittedly now PD27A-reduced) paperwork. What often gets overlooked?
- Sensible property particulars. These need to be pitched judiciously in the right ‘parish’ of the case. The husband’s...
Read the full article here.
