The couple have lived out much of their 13-year marriage in the media spotlight – not least because the outspoken Mrs Bercow has been no shrinking violet when it comes to taking centre stage. The 45-year-old has appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, posed for a photo shoot in Speaker’s House wearing nothing more than a sheet – and was last year photographed kissing a DJ outside a London nightclub.

Mr Bercow is no stranger to controversy himself, making enemies within the Conservative party to the extent that many Tory MPs wanted to oust him from the Speaker’s role. His re-election to the post must be some comfort amid the very public disintegration of his marriage.

It is always sad when any couple decides to divorce – even if the split comes as no surprise to friends and family, as appears to be the case for the Bercows. Most people who break up can lick their wounds in private and are secure in the knowledge that advice from well-meaning chums won’t end up plastered across the Daily Mail.

However, for couples like John and Sally Bercow who, some might say, have deliberately courted media attention, it is a different story. From John Bercow’s political foes to female newspaper columnists poised with poisoned pens, there will undoubtedly be numerous parties queueing up to offer their opinions on the Bercows’ marriage and divorce in the national media and across social media.

Mr and Mrs Bercow would be well advised to close their ears and eyes to such partisan advice. Instead, they should both seek out expert legal advisers – such as family lawyers who are members of Resolution – who will help them to manage the situation together via a dignified and positive process.

As we frequently highlight in this blog, responsible lawyers urge clients to put the interests of their children at the heart of their divorce to help to lessen the blow of the family split.  I hope that the Bercows will be encouraged to do the same for the sake of their two sons and daughter.

By all accounts they are good parents to their three children. Although Sally Bercow has described herself as a “terrible wife”, she has talked movingly about the challenges of coping with a son with autism and is Ambitious About Autism Parent Patron – a charity role that would seem to demonstrate her caring and commitment to her children.

Mrs Bercow has described her husband as a “great dad” and he certainly seems to be a ‘hands on’ father. According to reports, it is he who has been caring for their children at his grace-and-favour flat in Parliament in recent days while his wife lives alone in their Battersea home.  A journalist who visited their house shortly after the 2010 general election found the Speaker watching Peppa Pig with one of his children, and crawling into his daughter’s Wendy House.

If the Bercows do proceed with separation and divorce then I sincerely hope that neither of them provides the media with a ringside seat to a public slanging match.

I would also recommend that they take the uninvited advice from the media – coupled with the partisan advice from friends – with the proverbial pinch of salt and focus on working with the afore-mentioned responsible lawyers to achieve the best possible outcome for their three children.

Do you have any questions about separation or divorce?  Please, drop us an e-mail You can follow us on Twitter @helpwithdivorce

The post Advice to the Bercows: avoid divorcing under media spotlight to protect your children appeared first on Jones Myers.

The gagging order on Katie Price’s soon to be ex-husband Kieran Hayler has catapulted the topic of prenups once again to the forefront of the media agenda.

Fortunately, the former glamour model’s watertight and comprehensive prenup also included a confidentiality agreement which prevents Kieran Hayler from revealing intimate details of the couple’s controversial relationship.

This latest prenup story comes in a week where it has been revealed that prenup agreements are on the rise – a situation we are also experiencing at Jones Myers where we have seen the number of clients negotiating these agreements treble in the last month alone.

While it is widely believed that prenups are taken out to protect every asset, as in Katie Price’s situation, the reality is that you can ring fence as much or as little as you want.  A prenup can be viewed as an opportunity to be creative about how matters should be dealt with in the event that your relationship breaks down rather than being subject to the same legal regime as everyone else.

Prenups are sought for all sorts of reasons. Some couples who are embarking on marriage for the second time are keen to go down the prenup route to ensure that certain assets are preserved for their children from previous relationships – whilst others are protecting wealth which may have been in their family for generations

Where we were previously being commissioned by high net worth individuals, now we are also being approached by couples of limited means.

The key thing to remember is that prenups need to be finalised in good time – at least three weeks before the wedding as opposed to a last minute scramble. If not, in the event of a divorce, a judge might think that one partner has been put under pressure by the other to sign it, leaving it open to the judge to ignore its terms.

When someone considering a prenup comes to see us, we advise them to carefully think through how their married lives may pan out.  Should different arrangements exist if the marriage lasts for a long time, or if children are born?  Couples also need to be completely frank with each other about their financial position from the start. If not, the agreement is likely to be set aside.  An effective prenuptial agreement is all about planning and being well informed.

Prenups are not legally binding in England & Wales – a situation which will only change if a proposed draft bill  recognising ‘qualifying nuptial agreements’ is implemented – and only then if the agreement meets fairly strict criteria.

Until then – and on the basis that prevention is better than a cure – a carefully thought through prenup drawn up with the benefit of independent advice has a fair prospect of being upheld by a court.

If you have any questions or concerns about prenuptial agreements, please call us on 0113 246 0055, leave us a comment below or drop us an e-mail.

You can also follow us on Twitter @helpwithdivorce

The post How prenups can help couples protect their assets appeared first on Jones Myers.

I have never been a believer in ‘D Day’ – a media invention, in my view – and what adds to the confusion this year is that no one seems to agree on the date. The Daily Mail says it’s today – ‘Divorce Friday’ – the first day legal firms are open after the seasonal break (actually, some of us have been working before today!). Parenting website Netmums , who has just launched a report on the true impact of divorce on children, says that it is Monday, January 6 – the day when schools reopen.  Others claim it was yesterday, January 2 – the first working day of 2014.

In my personal experience as a family lawyer in Yorkshire for the last 25 years, couples do not hang on until after Christmas to then flee the nest as the last strains of Auld Lang Syne are ringing in their ears.  To suggest there is a queue of clients on the telephone or standing outside lawyers’ offices is, I think, a complete nonsense.

Yes, the festive season can put extra strains on already fragile relationships; however most couples who reach the decision to separate do not take it lightly and may have been contemplating it for some time.  If children are involved, many parents will want to orchestrate the final separation in January when the security and routine of school returns. Couples without children will often separate before Christmas.

The decision to divorce is too personal, significant and a defining moment in most peoples’ lives to simply be a ‘calendar’ event.

For more information on how we can help, please call us on 0113 246 0055, leave us a comment below or drop us an e-mail.

The post Why D Day for divorce is just plain daft appeared first on Jones Myers.

In response to phenomenal support from the public and offers of financial help in the search for her daughter Elsa, our client Naomi Button’s has launched  a “Bring Elsa Home’’ Fundrazr Account this week to enable people to make financial donations if they wish.

These funds will be invaluable to widen the search in Egypt – enabling Naomi to fund investigations, pay search costs and cover the costs of media coverage in Egypt.  Donators will be updated regularly on how the funds are being used. In the event that there are funds remaining once Elsa has been returned home safely it is intended that those funds will be used to help locate other missing children who find themselves in a similar position to Elsa.

Elsa Salama turned six on 2 February and Naomi faces a second year without her daughter who was abducted by her father during a family holiday in Egypt in December 2011.  Tamer Salama remains in a UK jail for failing to reveal his daughter’s whereabouts.

Media interest in Naomi’s campaign continues with an exclusive interview for a women’s magazine due out later this month and interest from a national radio station.

Support for the campaign on social media continues to grow. There are now 3,500 ‘Likes’ on Naomi’s ‘Bring Elsa Home’ Facebook Page and several hundred people following her Twitter account @BringElsaHome.

Naomi’s campaign has also received support from Rachel Reeves, MP for Bramley, Leeds who met Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to seek further help from the Foreign Office to step up the search for Elsa.

Increase in parental child abduction cases

Sadly, cases of parental child abduction are on the increase. The Foreign Office’s Child Abduction Section is receiving an average of four calls per day and at Jones Myers, we are receiving an average of one enquiry per week.

Naomi’s plight has brought messages and social media posts from parents concerned about their own children –  these tips and advice from Kate Banerjee, head of our Children Department and a Member of the Child Care Panel, may help those concerned that their child is at risk.

Kate has a wealth of experience in representing parents, guardians, Local Authorities and children – here are some of her preventative tips

• Apply to the Court for a Prohibited Steps Order (PSO); this prevents either parent from taking their children to any specific events or any trips without the express permission of the other parent.
• Ensure that contact is supervised and in extreme cases, you may wish to stop contact altogether
• Keep passports safe and consider depositing them with a solicitor
• Contact the Passport Agency and ask them to block the other parent from applying for a new passport
• Notify the school about who is allowed to collect your child from school
• If you receive a threat of child abduction or if your child has been abducted: Contact the police immediately who can issue a port alert to airports and ferry terminals – A recent photo of your child and the other parent and details of the airport or destination you think they may be heading to will help the police to focus their search.
• Contact Reunite, the UK’s International Child Abduction Charity which operates a 24 hour emergency helpline 0116 2556234
• Seek legal advice immediately

The post ‘Bring Elsa Home’ fundraiser launched for abducted girl appeared first on Jones Myers.

Tomorrow (February 2) Elsa Salama will be six and Naomi faces a second year without being able to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. Elsa was abducted by her father during a family holiday in Egypt in December 2011.

The head of our children’s department, Kate Banerjee, was interviewed alongside Naomi on This Morning to discuss Naomi’s search for her daughter. Following their television appearance many hundreds of viewers took to social networking sites to support Naomi’s appeal bring Elsa home to Leeds.

Naomi’s campaign has also received support from Rachel Reeves, MP for Bramley, Leeds who had a meeting with Alistair Burt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to see if there was anything more that the Foreign Office could do to step up the search.

Naomi, who has not seen Elsa since December 2011, launched a Bring Elsa Home social networking campaign comprising a dedicated Facebook Page and Twitter account – @BringElsaHome – in the hope that someone, somewhere may come forward with information be able to ascertain her whereabouts.

Her plight continues to hit the headlines following a High Court ruling that her estranged husband Tamer Salama will remain behind bars for failing to disclose where his daughter is hidden. The judge also gave the go ahead for global publicity in the hope that Elsa will be returned to Naomi who lives in Bramley, Leeds.

Length and breadth of support

Our grateful thanks go out to the public and media who are supporting Naomi’s campaign to Bring Elsa Home.

Naomi’s appeal has received widespread coverage across TV channels including BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and BBC News 24 and national press including The Telegraph and The Independent. Our local press and radio / TV stations ITV Calendar, Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, BBC Look North, Radio Aire and BBC Radio Leeds are behind the appeal and are running stories about Elsa’s abduction. We must also give huge thanks to local news agency Ross Parry for their key role in spreading Naomi’s story to newspaper readers across the UK.

As a result of this tremendous coverage and support we are receiving e-mails offering help which we deeply appreciate.

Sadly, cases of parental child abduction are on the increase. The Foreign Office’s Child Abduction Section is receiving an average of four calls per day and at Jones Myers, we are receiving an average of one enquiry per week.

The post Spotlight on Egyptian abduction case ahead of Elsa’s sixth birthday appeared first on Jones Myers.