"Being able to help people rebuild their lives through my job makes me immensely proud. After supporting clients through some of the most difficult times in their lives, we often stay in touch, and many have become life-long friends.
When in a dispute, I believe that everyone deserves to be able to present their case to a court, and and that there is an playing field. A memorable international divorce case I worked on for a client called Emma was a particularly rewarding one for me.
Emma and her husband separated whilst living in Dubai. Legal proceedings began there, where the laws of the UAE left her in a vulnerable position, with limited rights to their shared house and even to her children. With our support, we advised she pursue proceedings in England as well.
As we worked alongside Emma’s lawyers in Dubai, we discovered that a financial order based on unchallenged evidence had been made against her, at a hearing she wasn’t even allowed to attend.
It was calculated on issues such as how long she may be without a husband, what qualifications she had and even on her attractiveness.
She was awarded a trivial amount for a marriage that had lasted more than 15 years, and she didn’t feel able to return to Dubai. After her application to the English court, Emma was permitted to apply for additional financial relief.
It was a tricky one – it wasn’t straightforward to issue High Court proceedings in England. What’s more, Emma was struggling, both emotionally and financially, and had lost faith in the justice system, with limited resources to pursue a case.
What might have seemed like an unworkable case to most, I saw as a challenge. We could react quickly, with expert international legal knowledge, access to the best counsel, and with experience of working with the High Court.
More importantly for Emma, we were able to offer a variety of funding options without requiring up-front payment and provided much needed personal and emotional support to help her deal with the situation.
With creative means of freezing her husband’s pension assets, we managed to secure her a greater financial award in England than she would have received by the laws of the UAE. Since then she’s been reunited with her children back in the UK, which to me makes it all worthwhile.
We’re lucky in England that generally speaking these complex international cases are heard by specialist senior judges who appreciate what is at stake.
Doing this job as long as I have, I’ve learnt that experience and tactics as well as the law can play a huge part in the outcome of a case. That’s why everyone deserves access to justice.”
Clare is a family law Partner based at our Birmingham office. She specialises in all aspects of family law and separation, including international cases, finances matters and cases concerning children.
Read Clare's profile
Learn more about international divorce
More litigation stories
