Europe: Family and Matrimonial

Inheritance disputes in England and Wales are rising sharply, and two converging trends explain why. The first is the sustained increase in residential property values: according to HM Land Registry data, the average UK house price now stands at just under £268,000, compared with around £153,000 twenty years ago, a rise of more than 75 per cent. What was once a modest family home has become, in many cases, a significant asset, and one that can transform even a straightforward-looking estate into something worth contesting.

In cases of cross-border parental responsibility, borders do not merely divide States but also lives. Where different legal systems and perceptions of the child’s best interests intersect, jurisdiction emerges as the modern “apple of discord.”

A recently reported judgment from the High Court, Kirishani v George Major, provides another example of the different way the law operates in England and Wales for cohabiting couples...