Q2: What do you see as barriers to working collaboratively and how can they be overcome? #familylawhour

Q3: Do you think clients understand out of court settlement options (including collaborative practice) and how do they choose which is right for them? #familylawhour

Q4: What are the benefits of therapeutic and financial neutrals being involved and working as a team with lawyers from the outset of a collaborative case? #familylawhour

Excited to be attending the Resolution Family Practice Conference Resolution #FPconf23

Q1: Should claims for unmarried couples have their own procedure governing those claims rather than the CPR (in the same way that family claims have the FPR)? #FamilyLawHour

Q1: Should child maintenance top-up be based on a formulaic approach, a discretionary approach or combination of both? #familylawhour

FamilyLawHour Have people found it easy to grasp to the formula set out in James v Seymour. Bear in mind just to work out the exigible income alone the formula is E = (G x (1-Z)) – P – (S ÷ 0.55)

@OnionBarge1 FamilyLawHour Do you think the threshold of £156k should be raised keeping more parties in the CMS statutory formula rather than top-up territory? It has been over 10 years since it first got implemented.

Q2: Mostyn J in James v Seymour has said that the Adjusted Formula Methodology (AFM) should be a ‘loose starting point’. Has it been most people’s experiences that parties & the court have adopted the figure calculated from the AFM rather than departing from this? #familylawhour

Raj Patel FamilyLawHour I'd have thought this would be helpful as it would offer guidance to try to limit disputes without binding the court.

Q3: Should school fees be taken into account in the Adjusted Formula Methodology when the statutory formula used by the Child Maintenance Service does not? Is this not an inconsistent approach? #familylawhour

Raj Patel FamilyLawHour @OnionBarge1 Yes, as one of the changes. Another is assessing the shared care no liability outcome. How can that be fair when one earns £25k and the other £125k?!

FamilyLawHour Perhaps that’s an issue which should be open to argue.

FamilyLawHour Formulas will always have their benefits and unfairnesses. For families close to the threshold but below it or conversely just above it, I can see it may create odd outcomes but for the majority it is sensible.

May I suggest a round of applause to Dom Christophers for his spreadsheet FamilyLawHour (and a reminder of the importance of firm’s retaining the IP in what a team member produces).

Q4: Should cases which deal with child maintenance top-up that fall under the Adjusted Formula Methodology category be dealt with by the CMS rather than the court? #familylawhour

Raj Patel Christopher Maulkin FamilyLawHour I think clients want certainty first and foremost whichever 'formula' camp you are in

Q1: Has the prevalence of child mental ill-health been increasing in your cases? If so, how significantly? #familylawhour

I have time off for good behaviour - so skedaddling up to Resolution Future Practice Conference in Leeds - ask me about Nova Law Ltd and free trials of Nova Engage, 10 years of tech enabled NCDR and counting #FPConf24

Q1: How can social media usage during a divorce affect the outcome of financial or child arrangement proceedings? #familylawhour