Tag: LAW

Stowe Solicitor Megan Brookfield, looks at the reasons why the Law Commission’s delayed surrogacy bill is still vital to ensure that UK law keeps pace with family life. 

It has recently been announced by the Law Commissions that the draft surrogacy bill has been delayed until Spring 2023. It’s at that point the government will consider and debate the bill, meaning there will be even more time needed to pass the legislation through parliament and then implement the changes, further delaying any law reform.

The current surrogacy law

The Law surrounding Surrogacy in England and Wales has not changed for a significant period of time, despite the ongoing change and variety in family dynamics across the UK and the increasing number of people choosing surrogacy.

Surrogacy is governed by the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 and in addition, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in 2008. It has been

Anyone can experience loneliness. Whether alone or when in company, we each have different reasons for feeling lonely. However, if chronic or long-term loneliness is left unresolved it can begin to impact on our mental health.

Divorce or separation means letting go of some areas of your life that are no longer right for you and brings inevitable change. This can cause a blend of feelings including loneliness.

What causes loneliness after divorce?

Reasons for feeling lonely differ widely from person to person. However there are some common factors often brought about by divorce or separation:

• Separation from your children – the end of a relationship often means separation not only from your ex-partner, but from your children while they spend time with their other parent. In a relatively short space of time, you can go from living all together and seeing each other daily, to spending longer than you’re

While financial tensions and pressures are a common factor in cases of domestic abuse, the increased pressure caused by the UK’s current cost-of-living crisis is having a considerable impact on people in abusive relationships.

Just last month it was reported that the cost-of-living crisis had already led to ‘unprecedented levels’ of women reporting domestic abuse. While Women’s Aid recently proposed an Emergency Domestic Abuse Fund to support survivors and shield them from the worst of the cost-of-living crisis.

The connection between financial strain and abuse

Financial hardship is known to increase the risk of physical, emotional, and financial abuse, but simultaneously also means many domestic abuse survivors believe that they can’t afford to leave the financial security of their abusive partner. With consecutive rises in the cost-of-living and further rises predicted, future affordability is also uncertain. The combined effect is that those experiencing domestic abuse are effectively trapped in their