Task(s) format
Students should write in intelligible prose with their answers well-written, presented and fully referenced as required. Please note that, as per the Assessment Word Limit Statement, footnotes are included in the overall word limit of 3500 words (+10%). There is no specific word limit for each individual answer, but students are encouraged to share the overall word limit equally between the three questions. Where the word count of the submitted work is above the specified word limit by more than 10% then the overall grade for the submission will be reduced to the next lowest grade. Where the word count of the submitted work is below the specified word limit by more than 10% it may not have fulfilled the Assessment Brief requirements and as such is less likely to achieve a good pass grade.
Final submissions should be referenced fully and uploaded as a single document to the Assessment drop box in the Assessment area of the LL3945 Moodle page as a Word file (whether *.doc or *.docx) by the above noted deadline. Referencing should comply with the requirements of the Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
Questions answer all three questions.
- Martha and Kelvin have been married for 11 years although they lived together for 5 years before getting married, and have three children, Kennedy who is 15, Klara who is 12 and Kai who is 6. They have decided to get divorced. They live in Aberdeen.
- Amelie has lived a chaotic life since she was a child. Her father died when she was 3 years old and her mother was an alcoholic. She lives in Aberdeen. Amelie first became pregnant at the age of 15 and was not in a relationship with the father of that child. When the baby was born, she agreed that her aunt Eliza who lives in Dumfries, should look after him as she was living in a one-bedroom flat with her mother and did not want a child at that point. She started a relationship with Ben a year later and became pregnant quite quickly. Ben was abusive and they separated many times. She started shop lifting and ended up with Social Work involved. When they discovered she was pregnant and that her last child was living with her aunt, they told her they did not think she would be a suitable parent, and the new baby should be put up for adoption. They did not seem to consider Eliza again. Ben lives a few miles away from her and is also known to the Social Work Department. He is four years older than Amelie.
- Zoe and Zak are married, and they lived together for 12 years but have now separated. The date of separation is 1st January 2025 according to Zoe but is 4th July 2025 according to Zak. He says they continued living together until that date and led a normal married life. She says they had separated months before and she was just going along with him until she could make arrangements to leave him.
Martha has stayed in the family home with the younger two children, while Kelvin has moved to his sisters house with Kennedy. The houses are only 20 minutes apart.The plan is for Kennedy to flit between the two houses as and when he wants.
Martha feels that the situation can stay as it is without any need for legal orders, but Kelvin does not like the arrangement and says he intends to see a solicitor about having all the children stay with him permanently, and Martha having some contact with them. He has become quite aggressive about this. She is worried that one time when they go to see him, he might not let them, particularly Kai the youngest, come home. Martha complains that Kelvin works shifts including sometimes night shift and does not spend much time with the children, and that his sister who does not like Martha, will try to indoctrinate them. She also thinks that Kelvin might go back to her old ways pre marriage of gambling. Kelvin says this is nonsense and he managed to beat his addiction about 7 years ago. Martha is a software engineer and can work from home whereas Kelvin works away a lot in a hospital full time.He says he would ask his sister to look after the children when he worked shifts. He also claims she is quite uninterested in the childrens schooling and that Klara in particular had begun to fail educationally since he left home. In return, Martha feels Kelvin has never taken his responsibilities seriously.
With reference to case law and statute, advise if Kelvin will be successful in obtaining an order for the children to live with him, and how he would go about that. What would he have to show and how might what Martha says about him be taken into account? What else might a court look at or ask of the parties?
A week ago, she was given formal notice that the Social Work Department intended to pursue a Permanence Order to have the baby taken away once it is born, it being due in a month. She believes that her social worker has already found a family who want to adopt it and has been planning this behind her back since she met her.
With reference to case law and statue, consider whether the local authority would be successful in their plans for PO and adoption. What laws apply here? What do they need to do to succeed and how do they go about it? Can Amelie object and if so, on what grounds? Does Ben have a role, and must Eliza be considered?
They have two children aged nine and six.
They had a house together that was bought a few months before they married. It is worth ?300,000 and the outstanding mortgage with Lenders Bank is ?150,000. When they bought it, Zak contributed most of the purchase price after selling his own flat, however Zoe put in ?20,000 from her aunt when she died. The house is in joint names.
They bought the contents together over the years but there is a Welsh dresser that was Zoes great grandmothers and was passed down to her.
They still have one joint bank savings account with ?20,000 in it. Zoe has some shares she owned before they married.
Zaks pension started five years before they married but Zoes pension only started after the children were born.
Zak earned more than Zoe so paid most of the bills while they were together.
He is now demanding that the house is sold, and the proceeds go to him alone. He wants to stop paying the mortgage and says Zoe should now pay that and all the utility bills.
He is also asking her for the expensive sapphire bracelet he gave her for their wedding anniversary, back.
How will Zoe and Zaks assets be divided if they get divorced? Refer to the relevant statute and case law. Will Zak be successful in his claim for most of the assets? Is he likely to succeed in having the house sold? What can each of them claim and what if anything, can they not claim. Reach a conclusion and tell us why you have come to that. Back up your conclusions with appropriate sections of statute as well as case law. What is Zoe likely to gain?
END OF QUESTIONS.