Source: Photoshot
Trusted financial advisers
By Tony Roe29 June 2020
Dictionary of Financial Remedies (2020 edition)
HHJ Edward Hess, Peter Duckworth, Sally Max & Amy Kisser
£55, Class Legal
At a Glance (2020-2021)
Mr Justice Mostyn, Lewis Marks QC & Gavin Smith
It is reassuring to have reference materials to hand when in the thick of a financial relief matter, not least a publication as manageable and concise as Dictionary of Financial Remedies.
This book is now in its seventh edition and has undergone a complete update since last year. It comes from the same Class Legal stable as At a Glance and fulfils a complementary role.
The work has an A-Z format and is, indeed, the dictionary of financial remedies it holds itself out to be. On second thoughts, it is less of a dictionary and more of a 120-page mini-encyclopaedia.
The lead author says that the aim was to provide the reader with a portable potted summary of the most commonly confronted areas of financial remedies law. It succeeds in its aim with, as it states, each entry acting like a practice note on the relevant topic setting out essential law, key cases and required practice points. A table of cases enables one to find each case in the relevant section.
New to this edition are entries on Financial Remedies Courts and Standard Family Orders. Other key sections include bonuses, bundles, delay and Duxbury calculations. There is a helpful section on arbitration, updated to include reference to the most recent case law. The entry on matrimonial and non-matrimonial property mentions the 2019 Court of Appeal case of XW v XH. International aspects are covered with a section on overseas divorce and the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (part III applications), as well as foreign assets and international enforcement.
Mr Justice Mostyn, who writes the foreword, expresses the hope that HM Courts & Tribunals Service will provide a copy to each judge of the Financial Remedies Courts. As if to underline its usefulness, the book is judicially quoted in W v H (divorce : financial remedies) [2020] EWFC B10 on the topic of child maintenance. As well as a work for the judiciary, this is certainly a must-have for the practitioner.
An e-book is available as an option or an add-on.
The only criticism I would make is the layout, as the sections are only separated by a feint line that means one can wrongly continue reading another section in the next column.
As mentioned, Class Legal also publish the revered At a Glance. Now in its 29th year, this has been comprehensively updated. Comprising essential tables for financial relief matters in divorce, it is indispensable. Much-used tables include gross salary and net income, retail prices index, life expectancy and child support. There are helpful sections on various taxes, social security benefits, pensions and annuities. However, it does not stop at tables as half the publication includes other reference materials – for example extracts from key statutes and rules, as well as a list of leading cases markedly different in format to that found in the Dictionary of Financial Remedies. Whether you need guidance on compiling a court bundle, or want to know the salary of a lieutenant-general as a comparable for grossed-up maintenance, this book is for you. It is also available as a fully searchable and annotatable e-book.
Tony Roe is a consultant in the family law team at Penningtons Manches Cooper, Reading
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