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Family legal advice news
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Earl Spencer 'may settle divorce out of court'
26 June 2009
Earl Spencer has failed in his bid to keep the media out of the divorce proceedings against his wife, which may lead them to instead reach an out of court settlement. Rules which came into force in April made it possible for the media to access family courts, with this being the first time it has been taken advantage of on a high-profile case.
Nicholas Mostyn QC, representing the Earl, argued for his client's privacy: "There is nothing interesting about this case apart from the fact that it is Earl and Countess Spencer. If this were two anonymous people there would be no press people in here at all. It would be fundamentally boring."
The Countess sought a blanket ban on media coverage of the proceedings, although her counsel Lewis Marks QC requested that the judge adjourn the case. He also argued that the press should be excluded as the matters discussed were only of interest to the couple and their children.
Petrova Caldecourt, associate in the family law practice group, comments: "Regulations have meant that since 27 April, the press have been able to attend most family proceedings, however there are strict rules about what they can and cannot report, and the anonymity of the individuals and children involved has to be preserved.
The rationale behind these regulations is to create transparency about how Judges make their decisions in family proceedings. However, in my experience and that of my colleagues, the Press are not attending Court since the resolution of the private affairs of most people are unlikely to be of interest to the general news reading public."
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