By virtue of section 25(2)(d) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) the court must give consideration to: '…the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage.' Equivalent provision is set out in Schedule 5 Part 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) at para 21(2). Age of the parties The age of the parties will generally directly impact on the other factors set out in MCA 1973, s 25 or CPA 2004, Sch 5, Pt 5, eg age will be considered in conjunction with the length of the marriage, earning capacity, needs and contributions. Pension considerations will be more significant for parties who are in their 50s and less important for those who are in their 30s, see Practice Note: General principles—pensions in family proceedings. Similarly, the income and future earning capacity for parties in their 50s or 60s will be considered differently from the income and earning capacity of much younger people. An older party may have

The starting point is that absent of any restriction, a tenant can either assign or grant a sublease. The extent of any restriction might take one of various forms. There might be an absolute bar upon assignment. There might be a bar upon assigning other than with the prior consent in writing from the landlord. Such a restriction will be subject to a proviso that the consent will not be unreasonably withheld, even though the landlord can require reimbursement of legal and other expenses incurred in connection with granting it. Similar types of restriction might be placed upon the subletting of the property. These are sometimes less onerous (if included at all) than restrictions placed upon assignment. Other times, they extend to parting with possession and even sharing occupation so that the grant of

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT: Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will increase the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028 (save for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes). The Finance Act 2022 will also give members of registered pension schemes a right to take their benefits before age 57, if on or before 4 November 2021 they either had an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits or were in the process of a substantive transfer to a scheme offering an unqualified right to a protected pension age of less than 57 on or before 4 November 2021. To benefit from this new 2028 protection, the rules of the pension scheme must have included (on 11 February 2021) an unqualified right to take the entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For further information, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact. The basic principle underpinning the pensions tax regime is that members of registered pension schemes

EU Law analysis: Demonstrations, blockades, and climate actions have increased over the past years. As companies are prone to be targeted by these actions, sometimes as a response, legal proceedings against ‘activists’ have been initiated. However, litigation against, for example journalists, NGOs and human rights defenders could effectively silence them. To prevent this, the EU recently adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1069, the anti-SLAPP Directive. Branda Katan and Daniel Stein, Partner and Senior Associate of Stibbe analyse the purpose and procedural safeguards of the anti-SLAPP Directive. The anti-SLAPP Directive forces Member States to fast-track anti-SLAPP proceedings and to enable courts to order that the company pays the NGO’s litigation costs. The Directive was published in the Official Journal on 16 April 2024 and took legal effect on 6 May 2024. Member States will have two years to implement it into their national laws.

This Practice Note provides an overview of the applicability of Directive 2014/24/EU (the EU Public Sector Directive). In deciding whether the EU Public Sector Directive applies, a contracting authority has to ask itself four key questions: • does the contract fall within the definitions of public works, services or supply contracts? • is the contract awarded by a contracting authority? • is the relevant EU threshold exceeded? • is the contract exceptionally excluded from the applicability of the EU Public Sector Directive? Does the contract fall within the definition of public works, services or supply contracts? Public works contract A public works contract means a public contract, which has as its object any of the following: • the execution, or both the design and execution, of works related to one of the activities within the meaning of Annex II • the execution, or both the design and execution, of a work • the

In answering this Q&A, we have limited this research to cover the relevant provisions of the Electricity Act 1989 (EA 1989), the Electricity (Applications for Licences, Modifications of an Area and Extensions and Restrictions of Licences) Regulations 2010, SI 2010/2154 (the Applications Regulations), and Ofgem’s Guidance for gas and electricity licence applications (Ofgem Guidance). We assume this Q&A is referring to an application to Ofgem for a new licence to generate electricity pursuant to EA 1989, s 6A. The

NOTE: with effect from 1 January 2026, the Commercial Court and London Commercial Court are operating a pilot under CPR PD 51ZH whereby certain documents used in public hearings (including witness statements and skeleton arguments) will be made available to the public by default. Practitioners making applications in these courts should familiarise themselves with the pilot and make sure appropriate steps are taken to protect their clients when preparing affected documents. For guidance, see Practice Note: Non-party access to court documents and information in civil proceedings. This Practice Note provides guidance on completing an application notice in form N244(CC) for use in the Commercial Court. For general guidance on making applications see the following Practice Notes: • How to make an application for a court order (CPR 23) • Making an application in the Commercial Courts Form N244(CC) When making an application in the civil courts, it is usually necessary to do so by way of application notice—for guidance on the circumstances in which the court will permit an application without

This Practice Note provides guidance on completing the most common form of application notice, form N244. This Practice Note provides guidance on the interpretation and application of the relevant provisions of the CPR. Depending on the court in which your matter is proceeding, you may also need to be mindful of additional provisions—see further in the section Court specific guidance below. In particular, note that the Commercial Court and Circuit Commercial Courts use their own forms of application notice. For guidance, see Practice Note: The application notice in the Commercial Court—form N244(CC). What is an application notice? An application notice is a document in which an applicant states their intention to seek a court order (CPR 23.1). Any such document will be a valid application notice so long as it: • states what order the applicant is seeking and, briefly, why (CPR 23.6) • is signed and includes (CPR PD 23A, para 2.1): ◦ the title of the claim ◦ the reference number of the claim ◦ the full name of the applicant ◦ where

Private Client analysis: The court held that the Deceased had made valid donations mortis causes (gifts in contemplation of death) of registered freehold and leasehold land, online bank accounts and shares when, just prior to his contemplated death, he handed over to the claimant copies of a land certificate, land registration documents, bank cards, login details and pin readers with passwords, telling him it was all his. Written by Oliver Hilton, barrister at Radcliffe Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn.

Background The origin of the European Economic Area (EEA) dates from 1990 and was largely the initiative of former European Commission (Commission) President Jacques Delors to create the world's largest internal market, which led to the founding EEA Agreement and the creation of the EEA. The EEA brings together the following 27 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden (the EU States) And three of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA EFTA States) The fourth EFTA State, Switzerland, is the only EFTA State that is not an EEA State, but still part of the EU’s single market. The EFTA continues to exist as an intergovernmental organisation set up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration to the benefit of its four member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) with the EFTA Convention

There are a number of issues to examine when considering an outsourcing arrangement and competition law. In competition law terms, the key questions are as follows: • whether the arrangements give rise to a notifiable transaction under merger control rules (and, where relevant, approvals under parallel regimes), and • whether the rules prohibiting anti-competitive agreements could apply The consequences of failing to adequately consider competition law issues are serious, and can range from agreements being rendered void and unenforceable to significant financial penalties. This Checklist provides a high level outline of some of the key issues and considerations concerning the effect of competition law on outsourcing arrangements. Outline of an outsourcing The common characteristic of outsourcing is that one or more outsourcing ‘suppliers’ will supply the ‘customer’ with certain services relating to business processes that the customer previously performed in-house. Companies frequently outsource non-core functions, particularly in relation to IT, finance and HR, to specialist suppliers who may be located offshore and can deliver cost-effective services to the customer due to: • cheaper labour

Arbitration analysis: The near universal ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate action and the related global proliferation of laws, regulations and industry initiatives on emissions reductions; the fact that the majority of emissions originate from economic sectors that are the mainstay of international arbitration; and the interlinking of climate change and human right concerns provide circumstances that present questions of great relevance to parties and arbitral tribunals in both commercial and investment arbitrations since it may well go to the enforceability of the award. The ‘question’ is whether tribunals have the authority, expressly in the agreement, or implicitly due to an international/transnational policy status of climate change action, to apply international climate change law and/or policy in deciding on climate change issues. These issues must be justiciable, relevant and material and have the potential to contribute to or cause a breach of relevant climate action commitments. Risteard de Paor, of counsel, International Arbitration, Herbert Smith Freehills Spain LLP researches these issues and provides thoughts on how to deal with climate change in the future.