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CASE STUDY MATERIALS

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June 2016 Level 6

THE PRACTICE OF FAMILY LAW Subject Code L6-20

THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF LEGAL EXECUTIVES

UNIT 20 – THE PRACTICE OF FAMILY LAW*


Information for Candidates on Using the Case Study Materials

This document contains the case study materials for your examination.

In the examination, you will be presented with a set of questions which will relate to

these case study materials. You will be required to answer all the questions on the

examination paper.

You should familiarise yourself with these case study materials prior to the

examination, taking time to consider the themes raised in the materials.

You should take the opportunity to discuss these materials with your tutor/s either

face-to-face or electronically.

It is recommended that you consider the way in which your knowledge and

understanding relate to these case study materials.

Instructions to Candidates Before the Examination

You will be provided with a clean copy of the case study materials in the examination.

You are NOT permitted to take your own copy of the case study materials or any

other materials including notes or textbooks into the examination.

In the examination, candidates must comply with the CILEx Examination Regulations.

Turn over * This unit is a component of the following CILEx qualifications: LEVEL 6 CERTIFICATE IN LAW, LEVEL 6

PROFESSIONAL HIGHER DIPLOMA IN LAW AND PRACTICE and the LEVEL 6 DIPLOMA IN LEGAL PRACTICE


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ADVANCE INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

You are a trainee lawyer employed by the firm Kempstons LLP of The Manor House, Bedford MK42 7AB. The firm’s telephone number is (01234) 622964; fax number (01234) 622965; and their DX address is Bedford 3721. The firm is a

high street practice and one-third of the firm’s caseload consists of matrimonial work. The matrimonial team at Kempstons LLP is headed up by the matrimonial

partner, Zachary Powell. The local family court is in Bedford. You arrive at work to find the following documents on your desk:

Document 1 Memo from Zachary Powell

Document 2 Attendance Note re Laura Wilson

Document 3 Marriage Certificate of Laura Wilson

Document 4 Attendance Note re Javina Grant

Document 5 Email from Michael and Barbara Yardley Document 6 Attendance note re Chelsey Oscroft


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DOCUMENT 1

MEMORANDUM

To: Trainee Lawyer

From: Zachary Powell

Date: (Today’s date)

Re: Matters to be attended to in my absence ____________________________________________________________

As I mentioned, I am going to be away from the office for the next fortnight on

annual leave. I would be grateful if you could please attend to the following cases during my absence:

1. Laura Wilson

Mrs Wilson is a new client. I saw her for a first appointment yesterday and attach

a copy of the attendance note of this meeting together with her marriage certificate (Documents 2 and 3 attached). Please deal with this case in my absence.

2. Javina Grant

I have been dealing with Mrs Grant’s divorce proceedings and am currently trying to resolve the related financial claim. I attach an attendance note of my meeting with her last Friday (Document 4 attached). Please deal with any queries Mrs

Grant has while I’m on leave.

3. Michael and Barbara Yardley

I received the attached email from Mr and Mrs Yardley earlier today (Document 5 attached). Please contact them and progress the case in my absence.

4. Chelsey Oscroft

Miss Oscroft is a new client who attended at the office late this afternoon. I attach a copy of the attendance note of this meeting (Document 6 attached). Please take any action required on this case during my absence.

Many thanks,

Zachary

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DOCUMENT 2

(Attendance note re: Laura Wilson)

Client: Laura Nia Wilson

Date: (Yesterday’s date)

Fee earner: Zachary Powell File ref: ZP/LR/W152

Time taken: 1 hour

_________________________________________________________

Attendance on Mrs Laura Wilson, who is a new client. I obtained the proof of identity documentation and carried out the usual conflict checks. There are no issues. Her details are as follows:

Full Name: Laura Nia Wilson

D.O.B.: 08/02/1975

Address: 31 Laurel Drive, Clayton, Barnardshire, BH10 7JU

Phone number: 07854382750 (mobile) Occupation: Teacher

Mrs Wilson wanted advice about her options following the breakdown of her

marriage. Her husband is David Christopher Wilson (d.o.b. 17/11/1975). The couple have been married for eight years. Mrs Wilson brought in her marriage certificate, which she handed to me.

She and her husband have two children: Evie Wilson (d.o.b. 03/12/2011) and

Reuben Wilson (d.o.b. 07/01/2014). The parties’ family home is 31 Laurel Drive, Clayton, Barnardshire, BH10 7JU. It is a four-bedroom, semi-detached property, held in the couple’s joint names. Both parties are currently still living at the

property. Mrs Wilson works as a supply teacher. Her husband is a management consultant.

Mrs Wilson told me that in January 2015 she discovered that her husband was having an affair with one of his work colleagues. She explained that she received

a telephone call from his secretary, who disclosed that for the last six months Mr Wilson had been involved in a relationship with another employee, Gemma

Taylor. Her husband’s secretary told her that it was the talk of the office and she felt that she couldn’t keep it from Laura any longer. Mrs Wilson said that she had been aware that her husband seemed to be spending more and more time at

work, but she was so busy with the children that she didn’t think anything of it. When Mr Wilson got home from work that evening, Mrs Wilson confronted him

about the affair. She said that after he admitted to the affair he broke down, saying it had been a huge mistake and he begged Mrs Wilson to forgive him. He

promised to end the relationship with Gemma immediately.


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Mrs Wilson told me that while she was devastated by his betrayal, she was conscious that the children were still both very young, so to try and keep the

family together, she decided to give her husband another chance. She admitted that at first she found it difficult to forgive him, but after a few

months things started to get back to normal and they were soon back into the routine of family life. They all went away together for a family holiday in August,

which they really enjoyed and she felt that they had managed to put the affair behind them.

Mrs Wilson told me that in early 2016, her husband had started to spend increasing amounts of time at work again. She had asked him why this was and

he had told her that he was under pressure, as he was working on a big project with tight deadlines. He reassured her that there was nothing to worry about and

told her that Gemma no longer even worked for the firm. She had accepted this explanation.

On 22 May, while she was out shopping, Mrs Wilson bumped into her husband’s secretary. She said that she stopped to chat to her, but she got the impression

that the secretary couldn’t wait to get away from her. This made her suspicious, particularly given the amount of time her husband was claiming to be at work, so as soon as she could, she checked her husband’s mobile phone. She found

messages on it from Gemma dating from February 2016.

Mrs Wilson confronted her husband about the phone messages. She said that initially he tried to convince her that the messages meant nothing, but eventually he admitted that in February, Gemma had returned to the firm and they had

resumed their relationship.

Mrs Wilson explained that she could not forgive her husband a second time. She told me that last week she had insisted that David move into the spare room.

I advised Mrs Wilson of the ground for divorce and the five facts. She said that she would consider her options and let me know how she wishes to proceed.

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DOCUMENT 3

CERTIFIED COPY of an ENTRY OF MARRIAGE Pursuant to the Marriage Act 1949

Registration District of Clayton Marriage solemnized at St Peter’s Church in the

Parish of Clayton in the County of Barnardshire

Columns:-

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

No.

When

married

Name and

surname

Age

Condition

Rank or

profession

Residence at the

time of marriage

Father’s name and

surname

Rank or profession of father

29

1 May

2008

David

Christopher

Wilson

Laura Nia

Iredale

32

33

Bachelor

Spinster

Management

Consultant

Teacher

31 Laurel Drive,

Clayton,

Barnardshire

31 Laurel Drive,

Clayton,

Barnardshire

Vincent Wilson

Frank Iredale

Company Director

Headmaster

Married in the Parish Church according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England after Banns by me The marriage David Christopher Wilson in the presence V. Wilson

was solemnized between us Laura Nia Iredale of us F. Iredale

I Jenny James Vicar of St Peter’s Church Clayton do hereby certify that this is a true copy of entry No. 29 in the Register Book of Marriages in the said

Church WITNESS MY HAND this 1st day of May 2008

CAUTION: Any person who (i) falsifies any of the particulars on this certificate or (ii) uses a falsified certificate knowing it to be false is liable to prosecution


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DOCUMENT 4

(Attendance note re: Javina Grant)

Client: Javina Grant

Date: (Last Friday)

Fee earner: Zachary Powell File ref: ZP/LR/G163

Time taken: 1 hour

________________________________________________________________

Attendance upon Mrs Grant. She confirmed that she had received notification that the decree nisi would be pronounced in relation to her behaviour petition in three weeks’ time. Mrs Grant gave me the draft financial statement I had asked

her to complete in respect of her application for financial orders. She mentioned that she had asked one of the local estate agents she knew to provide the

informal property valuations for her. We ran through some of the valuations which she had put into her statement:

- Former family home: 2 The Parade, Clayton held in the parties’ joint

names £499,000, less mortgage of £100,000 net equity = £399,000

- Investment property: 30 Princess Street, Clayton held in the parties’ joint names £190,000 (mortgage-free)

- Joint life assurance policy with a surrender value of £125,000 - Shares in Mrs Grant’s sole name £15,000 - Shares in joint names £75,000

- Cash ISAs in Mrs Grant’s sole name £35,000 - Savings in Mr Grant’s sole name £100,000

- Mrs Grant’s pension: CEV £75,000. She told me that her husband, Xavier, had apparently obtained his own

valuations of the two properties, despite the fact that she had explained they would probably need to formally instruct a joint valuer. He had emailed her

copies of his valuations, which stated a value for the family home of £450,000 and for the investment property of £225,000. He said he had put these figures into his financial statement. Mrs Grant told me that she does not accept these

figures.

We looked at the orders which Mrs Grant had applied for in her financial statement. Firstly, she wants an outright transfer to her of the former family home, where she is living with the parties’ two children, Tremaine and Cantrice.

It is a four-bedroom property. Tremaine has just completed his GCSEs and Cantrice will be starting high school next year. Mr Grant has made it clear that

he wants to sell the former family home. The couple have argued over this issue and his insistence that she and the children should move to a three-bedroom

property in Clayton.

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When Mr Grant originally moved out of the family home, he moved into the couple’s investment property, 30 Princess Street. He has said that he wants to

have this property transferred into his sole name, but Mrs Grant would prefer that this property is sold. She believes, from what the children have said, that Mr Grant is now in fact cohabiting with his new partner at her flat in Clayton. When

Mrs Grant confronted her husband about this, he denied it.

She believes her husband’s pension CEV is worth about £200,000 and she has asked for a share of it. He is apparently very resistant to the idea that she should have any orders in relation to his pension and has told her that he is asking for a

clean break in accordance with his lawyer’s advice.

In her draft financial statement Mrs Grant has also applied for spousal maintenance. She is still working part-time as a local government housing

officer. She told me that she will struggle to increase her hours until Cantrice attends high school. Her husband continues to work full-time as an IT consultant and considers that Mrs Grant can support herself.


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DOCUMENT 5

(Email from Michael and Barbara Yardley)

To: Zachary Powell From: Michael and Barbara Yardley Date: (Today’s date)

Subject: Honor and Adam Yardley ______________________________________________________________

Dear Mr Powell

We would be grateful for your help in resolving problems that we are experiencing regarding our grandchildren, Honor and Adam.

Last summer our son, Peter Yardley, separated from the children’s mother,

Keeley Underwood. Peter is experiencing his own issues regarding the children following the separation and has not seen them for some months now. We have tried not to interfere, as we don’t want to make the situation worse for him.

However, we now feel that we should take advice about where we stand.

Prior to the separation, we used to see Honor and Adam regularly. Honor is thirteen years old and Adam is eight. We used to see them at least once a week and they regularly came to stay with us at our home. We were always happy to

help out with babysitting duties, and during the school holidays we often took the children away for a few days to our caravan, which is on the coast.

After Peter and Keeley separated in June 2015, we continued to see the children every week and Keeley seemed to be glad of our help in looking after them, for

example over the summer holidays. However, we noticed a change in her attitude when Peter started living with his new partner in early October last year.

We were expecting to take the children away for a few days over the October half-term holiday, but Keeley cancelled this arrangement at the last minute, saying that the children had schoolwork to catch up on.

We did still see the children every Sunday, but by November Keeley had changed

the arrangement to every other Sunday. She told us that, as the children were getting older, they were reluctant to visit us every Sunday as they wanted to see their own friends at the weekends. We didn’t raise this with Honor and Adam,

because we didn’t want to pressurise them and we could fully understand why they might want to see more of their friends.

We were expecting to see the children for two Sundays in April and over the Easter holidays, but in early April, Keeley telephoned to say that they had parties

on both the Sundays we were due to see them and that she was planning to take the children away herself over Easter.

We were rather taken aback, but accepted her explanation until we received texts from both Honor and Adam saying that they missed us and asking why we

didn’t want to see them any more. We subsequently telephoned Keeley, but she refused to speak to us and now she won’t even take our calls. We would be

grateful if we could come in to see you as a matter of urgency.

Michael and Barbara Yardley

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DOCUMENT 6

(Attendance note re: Chelsey Oscroft)

Client: Chelsey Oscroft Date: (Today’s date)

Fee earner: Zachary Powell

File ref: ZP/LR/O132

Time taken: 1 hour ________________________________________________________________

Attendance upon Chelsey Oscroft, who is a new client. She wanted urgent advice

following some incidents of domestic abuse. I saw that she had a black eye and bruising to her forearms. I completed the necessary conflict checks and obtained the proof of identity documentation. There were no issues.

Her details are as follows:

Full Name: Chelsey Zoe Oscroft

D.O.B.: 04/06/1985

Address: 7 Derwent Close, Clayton, Barnardshire, BH5 8EK (mother’s property) Phone number: 07729134241 (mobile)

Miss Oscroft has been living with her partner, Shane Vaughan (d.o.b. 21/04/85)

for eight years. The couple have one child, Mason Oscroft (d.o.b. 12/03/10). They live at 10 Cross Street, Clayton, BH6 5RW. This is a two-bedroom terraced house rented in Mr Vaughan’s sole name from a private landlord. Mr Vaughan

works full-time as a mechanic. Miss Oscroft works part-time as a beautician.

Miss Oscroft explained that when she and Mr Vaughan first met, she was training to become a beautician. She had put this training on hold when she became pregnant with Mason, but when he started school in September 2014, she had

returned to the course. In September 2015, having obtained her qualifications she was delighted to obtain a part-time job in the spa of the local hotel. Miss

Oscroft said that working at the spa meant that she had to take a lot of care with her appearance, so she could project the groomed image that the hotel expected.

She told me that football players from the local football club regularly used the

spa facilities at the hotel, so they were familiar faces to all the staff. In December 2015, she attended her staff Christmas party with Mr Vaughan. She bought a new outfit for the occasion and got her friends at the spa to do her nails

and hair for her. Before they left home for the party, Mr Vaughan had told her how beautiful she looked. During the party, some of the football players had

been in the hotel bar. A couple of them approached Miss Oscroft to wish her a Happy Christmas. She thought nothing of this but as soon as she and Mr

Vaughan arrived home, he accused her of flirting with the footballers, saying it was obvious to him why she was spending so much time and all his money on her appearance and it wasn’t for his benefit. He had stormed out of the house


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and spent the night at his brother Neil’s home. She explained that Neil lives alone in a two-bedroom house a few streets away from them.

The following day, Mr Vaughan returned and he seemed to have calmed down. They spent a quiet family Christmas together. On New Year’s Eve they went out

to celebrate in one of the nightclubs in Clayton. A group of the football players were there. She said hello to them, but did not approach them because she was

nervous that Mr Vaughan would become annoyed. However, while he was at the bar, the group came over to greet her. She explained to me that they were only being friendly and a number of them had their girlfriends with them. But when

Mr Vaughan spotted the men talking to her, he immediately came over and told her to get her coat. She was embarrassed by this, but she didn’t want to cause a

scene in the club so she left with him. Once they got home and the babysitter had left, he pinned Miss Oscroft against the wall, shouting that she should ‘stop

trying to become a footballer’s wife’. When she tried to move away from him, he slapped her hard across her face. At this point, Mason came downstairs and Mr Vaughan stopped. Miss Oscroft ran upstairs and later heard Mr Vaughan pulling

out the sofa bed downstairs. The following morning he apologised for hitting her and said it wouldn’t happen again.

During the next few months, things seemed to get back to normal. She avoided socialising, but at the end of May one of her work friends insisted that she go out

with them to celebrate her hen night. While she was getting ready to go out, Mr Vaughan made a number of comments about how much of ‘his money’ she had

spent on her outfit. Just before she left, he grabbed her by the wrists and told her that she had better behave herself or she’d regret it. Miss Oscroft only stayed out a couple of hours, before returning home. Since that night she told

me that she was constantly scared of doing something that would upset Mr Vaughan.

Last night, he was planning to take her out for a belated birthday celebration, so Mason had gone to stay with her mother for the night. Her mother lives in a one-

bedroom bungalow. When Miss Oscroft arrived home from work, Mr Vaughan was looking at some photos on his phone and he seemed to be very annoyed.

She went upstairs to get changed and he followed her. He said he had found photos of the hen night, proving she had been up to her old tricks again. She knew that her friends had met up with some of the footballers, but she had left

before this point. She started to explain this, but Mr Vaughan punched her in the face. She tried to get away from him but he grabbed her arms. He said that he’d

make sure that nobody found her attractive again and started to drag her towards the bathroom. She managed to break free and ran down the stairs and out of the front door to her neighbour’s house. Luckily her neighbour was at

home and she let her stay on the sofa overnight. Miss Oscroft said she couldn’t stay there long, as her neighbour only had two bedrooms and needed these for

herself and her daughter. Miss Oscroft received a text from Mr Vaughan this morning, saying that he wasn’t finished with her yet.

Once she saw Mr Vaughan leave for work, Miss Oscroft left her neighbour’s house and, having collected some clothes for herself and Mason, she went to her

mother’s home. She telephoned the local police station from there, but they told her that the domestic abuse liaison officer was out on a call and recommended

that she contact a lawyer urgently instead.

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I used devolved powers to grant Miss Oscroft emergency legal representation and, as the court had closed, I advised her to remain at her mother’s and return

to the office tomorrow.

End of Case Study Materials

© 2016 The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives


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