Family Law Autumn Update 2026

Key Subjects

• Financial Remedy Update
• Private Law Update
• Conduct and Costs in Financial Remedy Cases
• Intervenors, Debts to Family and Legal Funding
• Cohabitation Agreements – The Alternative to Future Litigation

Speakers

Lucy Loizou, Managing Partner, The International Family Law Group LLP

Michael Allum, Partner, The International Family Law Group LLP

Cerys Sayer, Barrister, Westgate Chambers

Katharine Bundell, Barrister, 4PB Chambers

Elissa Da Costa-Waldman, MCIArb Barrister, Mediator, Collaborative Lawyer, Arbitrator

Conference Programme

9.30am Chairman’s Introduction

Financial Remedy Update

This talk will provide a practical update in respect of financial remedy case law over the last 12 months. To ensure the content is both topical and relevant the issues to be covered will be determined nearer the time but are likely to include:

• Division of Capital
• Maintenance Provision
• Agreements
• Miscellaneous Judgments
• Other practical topics

Lucy Loizou, Managing Partner, International Family Law Group

Michael Allum, Partner, International Family Law Group

Private Law Update

This talk will provide a comprehensive update in private children work and include key new cases from 2025/2026.

This is a talk aimed at family lawyers who focus on private law work and will be accessible for all levels of practitioner.

There will be helpful slides and handouts, culminating with practical tips and time for questions.

• Headline cases 2025-2026
• Allocation and Non-Molestation Guidance 2026
• Top tips to enable practitioners to convert the above material into their daily working life

Cerys Sayer, Barrister, Westgate Chambers

Conduct and Costs in Financial Remedy Cases

This is not just a talk about costs. It is also about the concept of litigation misconduct. We will consider what amounts to litigation misconduct, the statutory regime and the relevant and most up to date case law with examples from case big and small

If you do want to mount such an application, how do you best present it? What evidence do you need and in what format?

If you are on the end of such an application, what are the best arguments against it?

What level of costs might you secure? What costs would be seen as non recoverable and what would be recoverable and how do you argue against these?

• Costs can only be ordered due to litigation misconduct
• What amounts to “litigation misconduct”
• How do I present it in my case?  How do I maximise my chances of securing them and how do I argue against such an application?
• What costs might you secure: indemnity standard assessment?

Katharine Bundell, Barrister, 4PB Chambers

Intervenors, Debts to Family and Legal Funding

This talk will consider how to protect money loaned by friends and family especially for legal funding or assets they wish to be returned but which are held in the names of one of the parties.

• We will consider how to advise clients on costs at the start of a case
• Then how to look at such costs being recovered at the end of a case and how best to present the evidence of loans
• We will also consider intervenors, how to advise them, when they should intervene, the practice, FPR 2010 rules and relevant case law

Katharine Bundell, Barrister, 4PB Chambers

The above 2 talks from Katharine Bundell are linked talks about how to advise clients on the best way for them to fund litigation which may lead to recovery of the costs as a hard debt at the end of the process. They will consider how to advise clients at the start of proceedings and what documents you might want to draft with them to protect any contribution towards costs for friends and family.

She will also look at other assets, as well as loans for legal costs that family and friends might wish to protect and how best to approach these.

What is the test for intervening and how practically do you do it? What is the costs position of an intervenor? 

Katharine will consider practice points, the relevant FPR 2010 Rules and seminal case law.

Cohabitation Agreements – The Alternative to Future Litigation

Although Cohabitation Law Reform is proposed by the current government, it remains some way off.  While cohabiting couples await new laws governing and protecting this type of relationship, growing in number and overtaking the annual number of marriages, such couples need protection now rather than continuing to rely on, mainly, 19^th century property law. The obvious protection is to have a cohabitation agreement but what should they contain?

This whistle stop tour will take a brief look at the essentials for a legally binding and effective cohabitation agreement

• Why do Cohabitants need protection in the event of relationship breakdown?
• How to protect the newly or intending cohabitants where one moves into the home owned by the other – the Licence to Occupy
• Buying a Property together – is the declaration on the TR1 enough?
• Formal Declaration or Deed of Trust or Cohabitation Agreement
• Is a Cohabitation Agreement legally binding in the event of a breakup?
• What terms should the Cohabitation Agreement contain

Elissa Da Costa-Waldman, MCIArb Barrister, Mediator, Collaborative Lawyer, Arbitrator

5.00pm Close of Proceedings